


The Mastermind’s Lies

by Kaenito (nagitosupremacy)



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different Mastermind (Dangan Ronpa), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Everybody is against Shuichi gosh poor baby I want to hug him, Gen, Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Loneliness, M/M, Mastermind Saihara Shuichi, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, POV Saihara Shuichi, Post-Canon, Post-Killing School Life (Dangan Ronpa), Pre-Game Oma Kokichi, Pre-Game Saihara Shuichi, Saihara Shuichi Is a Mess, Saihara Shuichi-centric, Shuichi plays the Piano, Tired Saihara Shuichi, Virtual Reality, poor Shuichi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 43,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29036397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagitosupremacy/pseuds/Kaenito
Summary: Shuichi is a Danganronpa enthusiast. After a serious talk with his uncle, he wishes to get rid of his addiction by auditioning for the 53rd season. But things don't go as planned and now, he's forced to play the Mastermind role against his will, or else his family and only friend will die.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 109
Kudos: 404





	1. Loneliness

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I just want to mention that I’m not the best at english so please spare my bad syntax, my grammar and my poor simple vocabulary. I’m trying my best!

My name is Shuichi Saihara.

I'm your average guy, average height, average grades, average appearance and average life.

Or maybe I should use the term "was" instead of "am".

I've always been a pretty quiet kid, never seeking attention and not causing troubles for anyone. I didn't have a lot of friends obviously, and the few I had would always eventually leave me for other people.

My parents weren't around; they abandonned me when I was little at my uncle's house. They left and never came back, never giving any sign of life. I still remember them; they were pretty young, maybe too young, and they were extremely carefree. They would always leave me alone in the apartment when I was a toddler to go party with their college friends and eventually come back home at ungodly hours in the night (or morning?). I was always a light sleeper, so I would always wake up and see them shuffle and stumble around in the apartment, giggling and flirting with each other, drunk out of their minds.

Sometimes, they would catch me awake and would yell at me. They would yell out their frustrations, their fears, their guilty thoughts and insults at me, visibly forgetting who they were even talking to.

Every morning after that was the same, they would wake up and not remember a single thing of their previous night. As I got older, I would often start to care for them when they came home; getting them in bed, making them food and giving them comfort. To keep my mind off of it all, I often played the piano, something my mom had taught me when I was younger.

I... loved my parents. Despite all of these sleepless nights I spent looking out for them, when they should be the ones looking out for me, they still cared for me.

They smiled and laughed with me during the day. They praised my good grades, they made my lunches and gave me all their attention.

It was like I had two completely different sets of parents.

And one day, without warning, they just dropped me off at my uncle's house and left. I was completely torn apart after that time. For weeks and weeks, I wouldn't even talk to my uncle and aunt, I couldn't even bring myself to look at them. Questions kept swirling in my mind; why? What did I do? Was there something wrong with me? Did I do something to anger them?

I never got the answers to my questions.

Eventually, I started settling in my uncle's house. I started talking to them and getting to know them more. They were both very nice; my uncle owned a detective agency, with my aunt working as an accountant for that same agency. They made sure I was comfortable enough and didn't rush me to speak or trust them; they respected my choices and opinions, which I was and still am very grateful for. Both even agreed to buy me a small piano, seeing how much I missed it.

Detective work was always something I admired. The mystery, the thrill and the various different problems were so exhilarating to me. My uncle would sometimes even bring me to his workplace when I didn't have school. I met his coworkers, who were all very nice and friendly, and even got to take a look at his work. It sounded so complicated, there were so much details, so much effort but into uncovering every little secret that could be major to the case.

One day, as I came home from school, I walked to the kitchen table to do my homework, when I noticed a beige folder with a big "Confidential" red mark stamped on top. It took no genius to realize that this was one of his uncle's case, that he probably forgot to take to work.

After contemplating it for a few minutes, the outcomes of every situation playing in my head, I decided to open it.

It was a murder case, a gruesome one. The man had all four of his limbs severed and his throat had been cut. The obviously very graphic picture made me gag, I felt very lightheaded and needed to sit down after seeing that.

But for an unknown reason (maybe it was curiosity), I continued reading the case. U looked at every little detail carefully, not missing a single one. Eventually, as I finished reading, I felt as if something was off. Something was tickling my brain.

It was the fact that there had been no time of death.

Everything was extremely detailed, from the gruesome wounds to the suspects' alibis. But nothing mentioned the time of death.

As I reviewed the alibis, I suddenly felt the lingering feeling of doubt leave. I was convinced. I was convinced that this suspect was the culprit, he was the only suspect who didn't mention what he was doing at precise times of the day. The others all had detailed explanations of their days, while he had only said "I have been at work. I wasn't home at all". Never had he mentionned time.

When my uncle came home to see me completely absorbed in this murder case, he freaked out. He was rambling about how I shouldn't have opened that and that the images and contents were too much for a 12 year old.

"But uncle! I found something really interesting!" I said. He raised an eyebrow, his eyes still filled with worry. "You did? What did you find?" I took a deep shaky breath and smiled nervously: "W-well, there was no time of death mentionned, right? And this guy right here..." I pointed to the brown haired man, who had a gentle smile on his face, glasses supported by the bridge of his nose and a bunch of freckles on his face. He looked extremely harmless. "He doesn't have a precise alibi... doesn't he? I thought it was pretty vague..."

There was a small silence as I fidgeted with my fingers. I finally gathered the courage to look up at my uncle.

His eyes were wide open, staring at the case file, his blue orbs moving up and down continuously, analyzing the case.

"Shuichi... you're a genius."

I remember feeling very happy by that compliment. It was so heartwarming, hearing it from him.

"I knew something was off about this case. I'll talk to my coworkers about this tomorrow." He turned back to me, a wide warm smile on his face. "Thank you, Shuichi. In a near future, you should definitely work with me at the agency, you would make an excellent detective!" Again, I felt the warm feeling in my chest, it felt so good, so amazing. "A-ah, uh, y-yes! I-I was actually planning to become a detective when I get older..." My uncle chuckled: "Well, that's wonderful! I'll be looking forward to have you as my trusty assistant!"

Assistant...

The day after, my uncle brought me to his workplace and explained to his coworkers my theory. My uncle's coworkers found it amazing and decided to ask the guy to get interrogated again. When asked about the things he was specifically doing during his day, my uncle said he started stuttering and showing signs of lying. They ended up using the lie detector, which proved useful, since all the suspect said were lies.

Pitiful lies.

The man snapped, yelling, screaming and kicking, while also rambling about his fantasies of cannibalism and limb collection.

It was terrifying to hear. My uncle held my shoulders the whole time, squeezing me close to him more and more as the guards pinned him to the floor and handcuffed him.

Then, his eyes met mine.

His eyes were full of hatred, full of madness and full of...

Despair.

They were hypnotizing, yet terrifying. When he broke eye contact with me, I realized I had started trembling. Tears were slowly streaming down my face as my uncle kneeled in front of me, asking me what's wrong.

After that day, I couldn't look at anyone directly in the eyes again. My uncle continued bringing me to his workplace and let me examine his cases and work with him, but he doesn't bring me to interrogations anymore. He heavily regretted bringing me there and apologized for days and even weeks after that. Apart from that, everything was fine.

Until this show entered my life.

Danganronpa.

It was a virtual reality show, where teenagers would kill each other for the entertainment of the public. Simply put, it was a completely twisted game, even if it was a virtual reality.

My uncle had told me about this show when I was 14. A new season would soon be aired on TV and he told me the show was pretty interesting for detectives, notably because around 75% of the show's content was about investigation and uncovering the truth.

Curious, I had started watching it. This was probably the biggest mistake in my entire life.

I became completely addicted to it. And the investigation and the mystery wasn't all that interested me; the gruesome deaths, the betrayals, the tears and most importantly, the executions, were all so... fascinating.

Everything about this show was fascinating, it felt like I was being controlled to watch it.

The first 40 seasons were animated and didn't really interest me at the time, I would simply watch videos on Youtube compiling all the gruesome deaths and executions, as well as all the drama, and move on. But as for the 11 virtual seasons, I couldn't stop myself from watching them over and over again.

Examinating every little detail, analyzing every death and execution, completely absorbed in the despair the participants were feeling.

Every day from the moment I started watching that show was the same.

Wake up, go to school, watch Danganronpa, occasionally play the piano and go to sleep.

I would still often help my uncle with his cases, but I didn't go to his workplace as much as before. My uncle noticed it and asked me what was happening. When I told him about Danganronpa, he seemed a bit worried, but I brushed it off and didn't mind it at all.

My entire world was Danganronpa.

When I was 15, I started talking in forums, chatting with strangers about the game and making theories. I eventually made a few online friends, who shared the same interests as me.

But one in particular stood out from the others.


	2. Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi meets up with his online friend.

His username was "PantaKing". It was honestly a pretty childish name, so I expected the guy to be at most 12 or 13. It didn't bother me though, because I really enjoyed talking to him.

The guy himself seemed pretty... mysterious. He was constantly teasing me, messing with me and even flirting with me, while also seeming pretty shy and insecure. I really couldn't figure this guy out at all; after all, it's pretty hard to do so when all you know about him is just simple part and parcel of him as a person.

KirigiriStan: Hey what's up!

PantaKing: Nishishi, why hello there Kiri!~ ^w^ Anything new to say today?

KirigiriStan: No, not really, just wanted to know how you were doing. You aren't very talkative lately.

PantaKing: Aw come on, you know how popular I am at school!~ I need to keep up my good figure and be a good guy so I'm pretty busy! :>

KirigiriStan: It's fine, sorry I wasn't thinking about that -v-" I was just curious; where do you live?

PantaKing: Woah woah there sir! I might be in love with you but for all I know, you could be a creepy pedophile who wants to kidnap little ol' me!~ My mom wouldn't like that! ;-;

KirigiriStan: Ah! Oh, I'm sorry for asking. I shouldn't have asked that

PantaKing: Awww you're starting to make me feel bad >~< Alright I'll tell you, since I trust you!~ I live in Saitama prefecture! But I can't tell you anything else~

KirigiriStan: Wow, we're actually really close! I'm in Gunma prefecture.

PantaKing: Oh my gosh!!! We should tots meet up! Are you free this weekend?~

KirigiriStan: Uh, yeah for sure! And yes I am, I was planning to rewatch the 45th but that can wait.

PantaKing: Alrighty, perfect then!~ I can't wait to meet up my precious Kiri, it's a date!

It's a date.

I remember flushing bright red when I closed my computer that day. I was pretty nervous to meet him. After all, I still thought this guy was a 12 year old messing with me.

When weekend came, I dressed up in a black hoodie and ripped jeans, topping the outfit with my hat, which I'd started to wear to avoid eye contact in public, and headed out.

I eventually reached the place we were supposed to meet at, a little early. It was a simple park, with people walking their dogs around and children running one after the other, giggling.

I pulled my cap down and crossed my arms, pulling out my phone so that people don't think I'm creepy, sitting all alone on a bench.

I waited for a bit and looked around, trying to find anyone that could be PantaKing.

I eventually saw a guy standing next to a tree, looking all around.

He seemed extremely nervous, holding his phone close to his chest. His black hair was a mess, hair strands sticking out from everywhere and his eyes were a shining deep purple. He was pretty short, which kind of made sense, since he must have been a lot younger than me. He was wearing a dress shirt and some pants, which made me regret dressing so casually.

"This can't be him, right?" I thought.

I eventually locked eyes with him. His eyes widened a little and his worry seemed to dissipate.

"It can't be anyone else but him." I thought.

I stood up and walked over to him. He slowly started smiling.

"Hey hey, are you Kiri?~"

His voice was unexpected. I expected a childish voice, but instead, I was met with a deeper voice.

"You're PantaKing?" I asked. He pouted. "Come on now, asking a question to my question, that's so rude!" I nervously fidgeted with my fingers. "Ah! I'm sorry, but uh, to answer your question, yes I'm Kiri."

He smiled. All the worry he must have felt earlier seemed completely gone.

"Phew! I'm glad it's you! I was kind of nervous y'know! I didn't know if I was meetinf up with a pedo or not!~" I laughed nervously: "Yeah, that must have been a relief. You seemed nervous when you came here."

He snorted.

"Pfff, me? Nervous? Never!"

He grinned.

"Okay now you've got to tell me your real name!" He was holding a finger to his mouth, a mischievous, yet kind smile on his face. "A-ah! Uh, I'm Shuichi Saihara, what's yours?"

"Oh! I'm Kokichi Ouma! It's nice to meet you Shumai!~"

"S-Shumai?"

"Yup! That's my new nickname for you! I couldn't resist because you're such a cutiepie!"

I flushed bright pink.

"Nishishi, you're turning quite the red shade Shumai! You aren't falling for me are you?"

"N-no! No I'm not."

"Hmm, is that so? Oh, and may I ask what grade you're in as well?~"

"I'm a first year... I-I'm 16. What about you Kokichi?"

"Wowie, we're twinzies! I'm also 16 y'know?~"

I was pretty suprised. He really didn't look like he was 16 at all. But he didn't seem to be lying.

"R-Really? I thought you were younger." I muttered.

"Are you saying that just because I'm short?? That's so mean Shumai!" He pouted.

"Well... y-you kind of act like one..."

He acted all offended and then he launched himself at me. He pinched my sides, which made me bend over and let out a single laugh.

"Ah ah ah!~ I see you're ticklish Shumai~ That's not good for you, nishishi!~"

I raised an eyebrow. He was looking at me with that same mischievous yet reassuring smile.

"Ok-ay!~ Enough goof goofing around! Let's go to my favorite spot!~"

[...]

Kokichi was an amazing friend.

Very much like his internet persona showed it, he loved teasing people and having fun. He was kind, always making sure people around him were okay; he helped his mom around the house and he had an amazing relationship with her. He had two little sisters and a little brother, who he absolutely loved and adored. Kokichi was a good person, a genuinely heartwarming person. My uncle and aunt loved him as well; they were happy I had also made a genuine friend.

But that kind, carefree and seemingly confident exterior hid many things.

With the analysis skills I had gathered over the years, I found out many things about Kokichi.

But I didn't have the confidence nor guts to talk to him about him, and he didn't really seem like the guy to speak out about his feelings either... so I let it slide and just... enjoyed this friendship.

But it all came crashing down when he announced me he was moving, almost two years after I had met him. We were about to graduate high school, we both had just around two months left.

"Shumai? Can I talk to you?" I looked at him, finishing the cookie I was eating. He was nibbling at his, looking at the floor in front of him. His eyes felt... different. He really sounded serious as well. "Is something wrong Kokichi? D-did you want anything else?" He let out a single chuckle, his eyes snappinf up to look straight into mine. "Shuichi..." He never calls me by my name, that's strange. "I'm moving Shuichi. My mom got a job a few hours away from here. We're moving in two days."

...

I felt like my world came crashing down.

My heart squeezed and skipped a beat him. My anxiety levels shot through the roof.

"Y-you're kidding me right? You're teasing me again aren't y-you huh?" I asked, voice slightly shaking.

I thought he was going to just flash a bright smile at me and say it was a joke, but he didn't. He remained serious, his eyebrows furrowed in sadness.

"I'm sorry Shuichi... but I'm not. I didn't have a say in this." I started panicking. "B-But you're 18 right?? Why don't you take an apartment here?" I didn't realize I had gripped his shoulders, shaking him. He looked at me with a sad frown, before looking down.

And then, slowly, his arms made their way around my waist and he pulled me into a hug. His head rested on my chest, his wild dark hair tickling my chin.

"Shumai... you know I can't do that. My dad left, so mom is our only way to make money. And since she'll be working, no one will be there to take care of my siblings... except me. I can't leave them Shuichi..."

As I slowly realized the reality of the situation, I felt tears falling down my cheeks. They slid all the way down and landed on Kokichi's head.

"We'll keep contact Shumai! Don't worry, I'll never stop being your friend!~ And when things get better..."

He looked at me in the eyes, a kind smile on his face. One of his hands reached up to my face and wiped away my tears.

Then, he winked.

"We'll get married!~ And you can't say no!"

I couldn't help but smirk sadly, feeling my heartbeat slow down from the rapid pace it had taken.

"Of course Kokichi. I'll be waiting."

The other boy smiled. Then, he lifted his hand and slowly took Shuichi's cap off his head.

"Your eyes really are beautiful Shumai~ You shouldn't hide them, but most importantly..."

He winked again.

"Don't be scared to face the truth Shuichi. Even if life might be hard, you've got to face your problems head on and not give up for what you love. Can I trust that you will listen to me?~"

"W-what's this all about Kokichi? Where does this come from all of a sudden?" I said with a nervous smile.

"Huh? Oh! That was nothing~"

He let out one of his little signature giggles, a hand to his chin.

He stepped away from me and grabbed his things from the floor.

"I've got to go Shumai! I'll text you when I get there! Oh! And take care of yourself alrighty?~" he said as he walked away, gradually making his voice louder so that I could hear it.

I laughed and waved at him. "Don't worry about me Kokichi, I'll be fine! Let's meet again soon!"

"Definitely! And don't forget our promise!~"

That was the last thing he said before disappearing in the bus that would take him back home.


	3. Addiction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi gets even more addicted to Danganronpa and decides to audition after a serious talk with his uncle.

[...]

After that day, I became more alone than ever. I missed Kokichi and the time we would spend together, after all, he was the best and only friend I ever had. Despite his strong message towards me, I couldn't help it... I was once again left behind by someone I loved and trusted. I knew he would come back eventually, but the loneliness eventually overwhelmed me to the point I became unaware of how deep I had fallen.

I was still absorbed into Danganronpa, and with Kokichi being gone, my addiction became even more intense. I would start skipping school to watch it, trying to escape the loneliness, trying to escape the pitiful and boring life I was living.

And then, they announced the auditions for the 53rd season. There would be singular auditions and directly after they'd have chosen the participants, the game would start, meaning the show would actually start airing very soon.

The thought of participating never even crossed my mind; I was never the type to throw myself into dangerous situations after all.

Until I had a talk with my uncle.

I had come down for dinner that day. I was sleepy and very tired; I was barely sleeping in those times, ignoring sleep to watch Danganronpa and write deep analyses on it.

"Shuichi, we need to talk."

Just as I was about to go back upstairs with my food, I turned around to face them. "Is there something wrong?" I muttered. My uncle's golden eyes shined with worry, taking a glance at my aunt, who's brown eyes were equally filled with the same concern. "Shuichi... you're different. This show... it's ruining your life. And you don't even realize it. I'm sorry Shuichi, but if you don't do anything about it, we'll have to do something about it, for your own good." My aunt looked at me. "You're a kind young boy Shuichi, and we want you to have a bright future... you're like our son to us, scrap that, you ARE our son. And as your parental figures, it's only natural that we worry for you..."

I remember the realization I felt that day. It was like no other.

I fell down on me like a wall of brick that collapsed. They both made me realize how unhealthy this obsession became.

I vaguely remember those moments, since everything passed in a blur. I only remember running up to my room and passing out on my bed.

When I woke up the next day, it was the afternoon. I was confused, but then everything came tumbling down like the night before. How pathetic I'd became, how I had disappointed the only people left who cared about me, how disappointing Kokichi would have been; I was panicking.

I couldn't continue living this way anymore. And then, a wild thought passed through my head; what if I participate in this season? You may think; what the hell?! Didn't he JUST say he couldn't live like this anymore? Well, my thinking at the time was very different.

I thought that if I participated in the game, my pitiful addiction would disappear. The personality the game would create me would overwrite my current pitiful one and make me a better person, even if it meant I had to go participate in the horrible show.

Another thought also crossed my mind at the time; I would also finally find friends. He would just have to request a charming, nice and calm personality that would attract loads of people, and he could then be friends with everyone, as well as helping them through the trials.

How amazing would that be? I thought.

And so, I went to audition for the game. I told no one, leaving during the night, to meet at the Team Danganronpa building, 3 hours from here. Thousands of teenagers stormed the place, pushing each other to get in line to eventually get an audition.

After hours of waiting anxiously, it was finally my turn.

I had to convince them to take me, to make me one of the participants.

I walked on the wooden floorboards, the heels of my shoes echoing in the silence of the vast room.

"Present yourself, your audition number and tell us what role you would like to be in the game, as well as the personality you would like."

"Number 154, my name is Shuichi Saihara. I've always been a huge fan of Danganronpa and..."

I hesitated for a slight second.

"Always wanted to be in one! And if I were a contestant, I would want to be... an Ultimate Detective. I know there's been a few in the past and I've always loved those characters... s-so I would want to be one of them! A-ah! But I don't have to be an Ultimate Detective! I'll be anything to be part of the show. And I mean... anything! I'll do anything to be part of Danganronpa! I promise, if I get selected, I will work as hard as I can!"

I took a deep breath and, with all the acting skills I learned from my years of watching people betray each other, put on masks of lies and an horrible act in front of others, I pushed a mad grin on my lips, looking directly at the judges. Their eyes widened a little from the sudden change in emotions.

"I will come up with the best, most gruesome murders, I promise! Everyone will LOVE it! And an Ultimate Detective hasn't been a blackened yet, so I'm sure I can do that! Plus, I came up with the most terrifying punishment for an Ultimate Detective, crushing lies and betrayal, how despairful would that be!"

I topped it off with a deranged giggle, similar to the one of a certain popular white haired man of this serie.

"Hmmm, interesting. You sure are interested Mr. Saihara. What grade are you in?"

"I'm a 3rd year, almost done with school."

"Perfect. Please exit through those doors and wait in the space behond that. Food and drinks have been laid out for you to take while you wait for your results."

I nodded, still keeping the sinister grin on my face as I headed to the doors.

I entered a small common room, which had a few dozens of people in it, drinking and eating together.

I didn't even dare to let down the act, as I headed to the table. People stared at me, giving me weird stares. It was horrible, I hated being looked at this way, but I had fo keep up the act, in case there were cameras in this room. I took a Monokuma shaped donut and a cup of water, before taking a seat in a chair.

I pulled my cap down, avoiding the stares I was getting, deciding to focus on my food.

The stares, the loneliness, the awkwardness and my hurtful addiction would be gone soon.

The wait felt like it lasted forever. A man came in and started calling people to get out of the building. And eventually, as you may expect it now, I was the only one left... with another girl.

We were both the last ones in the room when all of a sudden, the man flashes a big smile at us.

"Congratulations! Both of you have been chosen to participate in the 53rd season of Danganronpa! How are you feeling?"

The girl squeeled.

"Omigosh! That's so cool! Wow! I can't wait to see what kind of Ultimate and personality I will get, of course, I will only get to see it after the game, but still! This is so cool!" She was drooling, her hands were gripping her hair as if she was going to pass out. I internally cringed and put on a smile.

"I can't wait to see the murders and executions." I said with a grin, pulling my hat down over my eyes.

"This is the spirit! Now, go to sleep for me! See you all in a few weeks!"

Two men suddenly launched themselves at us and stabbed syringes into our necks. I remember blurred voices, before all I could see was pure dark.


	4. The Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi wakes up in a peculiar room.

When I woke up, I was in a dark room.

I was laying on the cold hard floor. I fluttered my eyes open, my head heavy. I was confused. But as I looked around, I saw something that shocked me.

There was a huge Monokuma head with multiple wires connecting to it. It looked awful, like it came straight from a nightmare. The cyan eye stared straight into my soul as I slowly stood up.

"Hello? W-who are you?" I asked.

Silence.

I looked around, trying to look for any clue as to where I am and what am I doing here. But then, I had a flashback from when the man announced us we were accepted in the game. He said he would "see us in a few weeks".

But why did I remember everything? Why was I still here, in my formal clothes?

Then, a voice rung in the silence, making me jump, letting out a small scream in surprise.

"Welcome, master. I'm glad to have you here! My name is Motherkuma, I will be in charge of making the Monokumas of this game."

Motherkuma? Monokumas? Why is it telling me that?

"W-what? B-But why are you telling me this? Isn't it the whole purpose of the game to keep it a secret?" I asked, confused.

"Voice recognition activated, voice memorized. Software updated."

Motherkuma buzzed, its cyan eye flashing red for a second before turning back to its original color.

"Well, you are this game's Mastermind, it wouldn't be quite convenient for you to not know about your honorable servants."

My blood froze at that moment. It took me a few seconds to assess the situation.

I was in a dark room, with a giant Monokuma head who calls itself Motherkuma in front of me. And it just told me I was the Mastermind of this game.

"Excuse me?! I am what?!"

"You are my master, the Mastermind of this game. You are to make sure the game runs smoothly and according to the schedule provided by the gods, on the table over there."

The gods must have been Team Danganronpa.

I slowly turned around and walked to the table, while also not taking my eyes off the ominous machine.

A simple notebook was sitting in the middle of the table. I grabbed it to examine it. A giant Monokuma face decorated the cover. But something else catched my eyes. Just under the Monokuma head, under the word "Mastermind", my name was written, in big bright red letters.

"N-No way... I'm really the Mastermind..."

My grip on the notebook had tightened, my legs felt like jello, my head hurt and my vision became blurry. I couldn't believe what was happening.

I wanted to help everyone, I wanted to make friends, I wanted to get rid of the thing that was haunting my everyday life and possibly future.

But there I was, forced to play the sick role of the Mastermind.

Motherkuma told me everything about this game, from the motives, to the flashback lights, the different murder weapons and ways to kill someone around the school, Kiibo's role, my duties as the Mastermind and everything else...

Except the characters.

The production wanted to try out something new this year. They wanted to get genuine reactions out of the Mastermind to the executions and the characters' personalities, so they decided to keep all of that to themselves.

Honestly, at that point, I wasn't even listening anymore.

My plan had failed.

Everything was falling apart all over again.

"I can't do this! Please choose another Mastermind, I-I-"

Tears started spilling out from my eyes as my knees gave out under me, in front of Motherkuma. The evil machine seemed to be staring deep into my eyes.

"I just wanted to get rid of my stupid Danganronpa addiction and make friends, I wanted to become a better person, not make it worst! Please... I don't even care if you reject me from the game... just let me go back home..."

Silence filled the room, heavy and overwhelming.

Only the soft sobs I was letting out could be heard across the dark place.

"Well, it's too late!"

The machine's voice had changed. I lifted my head up to look at it.

"Team Danganronpa speaking here... there's no way out! You're the Mastermind and that's it!"

"B-But I simply c-can't d-do it! I-I'm not evil! I don't have bad intentions and I simply can't bring myself to be an accomplice to other people's despair!"

The man speaking let out a little giggle, which was quickly followed by a laugh, and finally, it erupted into a long deranged and unhinged laughter. I shivered, feeling the panic rise inside of my gut.

"It's too late! Too late too late too late! You're going to have to act the part, just like you did in that stupid fake audition of yours! That's what you get for acting like that!"

I felt the tears start spilling again.

I had fucked up real bad.

In a sudden burst of confidence, I lashed out at the stupid Monokuma head.

"I won't do it! If you keep me here as a Mastermind, I'll end the game early and make sure I die first!"

"Oh? Is that so?"

The voice snickered again.

"Look up."

A screen popped out of nowhere. I was surprised at first and then remembered that this world was virtual and that it was normal for this kind of thing to happen. The screen slowly lit up, and what came on it terrified me. 

  
My blood froze and my heart skipped a few beats.

There, on the screen, my uncle and aunt were sitting at the kitchen table, eating dinner. My uncle seemed to be talking, but I couldn't hear him. Then, he passed a hand through his hair and put both of his hands on his forehead, covering his eyes. My aunt put a hand on his shoulder. I couldn't see their face, because the camera was facing their back.

But why was there a camera in the kitchen?

...

I slowly started to understand. Worry slowly crept on my mind.

"What... what the hell..."

"You see this? Now, let's make a deal."

The voice snickered again.

"You play the role of the Mastermind, create marvellous motives and traps to get the participants to kill each other without saying a word. If you don't do that, it's simple really; your family dies. And I'm not only talking about your uncle and aunt, I'm talking about your beloved parents and your little friend you made too."

"How did you..."

"Now now, it's not the time to be asking such questions! Will you accept the deal? If not, the four hitmen situated all around your uncle and parents' houses are all ready to shoot, right under my orders!"

My blood ran cold again and I started trembling. Shaky tears slowly fell out of my eyes. All I could feel was-

Despair.

"Yes... yes I will do it, but please leave my family and friend alone... they're all I have left-" I choked out, my voice trembling and cracking.

"Perfect! Now, head to a random classroom and stay there until someone wakes up, alright?"

I slowly nodded, feeling completely numb. I couldn't even cry anymore, it all seemed unreal.

"Oh! And don't forget our promise!"

The familiar phrase was the last thing I heard from the man, before I was left alone in this room.

[...]

And then, the killing game started.

Starting off with a motive that I created to speed up the process of the killing game, Rantaro died.

I had gotten really close to Kaede at the time too, and I knew of her plan. After all, I could see everything in the cameras. I tried to stop it, trying to get to the library before Rantaro, but when I got to the library through the Mastermind's doors, before everyone else, Rantaro was already there and he accidentally saw me. He tried to run away, but I couldn't let it happen. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kaede's shot put ball fall from above and roll on the floor. And with the sudden confidence that overtook me, I took the shot put ball and smashed it on his head. After I'd done this, I quickly came back to my senses and froze. Immediately, my flight reponse took over; I dropped the shot put ball and ran back inside the Mastermind's room, taking his Survivor Perk along with me. But as I turned around to take a last look, I saw something else. Another shot put ball had fallen next to Rantaro's body. Quickly, before the door closed, I ran to grab it and quickly sped back inside the room. I dropped the shot put ball on the table and quickly made my way to the exit in the girls' bathroom, before heading to the classroom Kaede was in. We then headed to the library as the little remote control lit up, probably from the movements of the bookshelves closing. Then, we saw Rantaro. Guilt consumed me as I stared at his body.

I had killed him.

After I almost fucked up, Motherkuma didn't forget to remind me of my purpose.

But I didn't want Kaede to die.

Even if I'd known her for just a few days, it was enough for me to call her a friend. She was kind, hopeful and selfless, she cared about everyone and was an amazing person. Everything I was not. I couldn't believe I was forced to ruin it all.

She was the Ultimate Pianist, she was amazing with the piano. It reminded me of the times I used to play piano frequently; I hadn't done it in around half a year now. I just wish I could play with her, show her how much I enjoyed her company, without feeling like absolute trash because of my true identity. And she was so kind to me too; someone that ended up being the reason she was executed.

She was executed because of my own god damn mistake...

....

Her kindness reminded me of Kokichi. Well the old Kokichi.

Because... he was there.

He looked different, with his dyed purple tips and the weird white outfit, but it was him. And he was... his personality had completely changed.

Needless to say... when I saw him, I was ecstatic. I was about to run up to him, hug him and tell him all about what was happening. It was all I wanted.

But it was impossible. Plus, he was a totally different person now; he was still flirting and teasing everyone, but it wasn't in a kind way anymore; it was in a manipulative and disrespectful way. Insults, lies, threats, everything that came out of his mouth was simply awful.

But who was I to say that? Who was I to judge this version of him?

After Kaede's death, the production told me to remove my hat, to gain the trust of my comrades and because they thought I looked suspicious.

After that, everything passed in a blur.

Murder after execution after murder. They all piled up slowly, taking away the friends I had made.

I couldn't even bring myself to look at them all in the eyes, I felt like a monster. With my hat off, it was very difficult as well.

They trusted me too. I was helping them solve the cases, uncover the culprits, and so, they thought I was a good guy. Even Kokichi, despite this horrible personality of his, trusted me and even wrote me off as "trustworthy".

It hurts.

It hurts to know I’m just lying to their face. It hurts to know that Kaito, Maki, Kaede and all the others trusted me enough to leave the entire class trials to me.

Kaito hung out with me and made me his "sidekick", his friend, without even doubting me for one second.

It hurts.

I try to put on a strong face and I try to keep my cool, but on the inside, I'm slowly crumbling apart.


	5. Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi feels bad.

And here I am now.

Phew, that was a lot of storytelling and writing. That brought back loads of nice memories, that's nice.

I sighed as I stood up from the desk, eyeing the cameras. Kaito and Kokichi had locked themselves in the hangar a few days ago and I had no idea what they were doing. The cameras were blocked from my vision, I couldn't see anything at all, maybe something had deactivated the Nanokumas in there.

I visited Kaito as well, he seemed worried about something, but I didn't think too much of it, instead, something else bothered me.

Kokichi... he was pretending to be the Mastermind. He somehow got Miu to make a remote control to command the Exisals. I've been sitting here for a few hours now, wondering why the hell he would do that.

Why would he sacrifice himself like that to reveal the true Mastermind?

I had heard him mutter about his plans in his room at some point a while back, and I was shocked. Kokichi's new persona was the type to lie through his teeth to get something and do horrible things in order to relieve his boredom. It reminded me of the character of Izuru Kamukura, but with extra energy and a god complex.

"I wonder... I wonder if he will remember his promise when we get out here..."

I let out a singular chuckle.

"That would make me so happy..."

"Phuhuhu... you're quite the pitiful creature... Hanging on these feelings like it's the only thing you have left in this world."

"Fuck off. I don't want to hear you open your crusty mouth ever again, Motherkuma."

"You've developed quite the dirty mouth there, Master."

I tch'ed.

It was true. Ever since the game started, I'd get easily angered by minor things that would have never bothered me before. Of course, it was highly likely that Team Danganronpa also messed with my brain a little before sending me in the game.

"You have to end this killing game now Master. The viewers are getting bored and want to see the final action and your big reveal."

"Is that all that's interesting to them? Me revealing myself as a horrible monster to the only friends I've ever had?"

"Why of course! The viewers also have no clue who the Mastermind really is. The most popular polls pull towards Tsumugi being said Mastermind, and very few are actually suspecting you, because of your kind nature and genuine reactions. You are pretty good at acting."

"I'm not acting."

"You're not? How interesting... puhuhuhu... The final will be amazing..."

The robotic voice died down slowly, reducing the room to complete silence, the buzzing of the camera screens echoing in the background.

Then, out of the corner of my eyes, I saw something.

I saw Maki enter an Exisal and slowly make her way with it to the hangar.

My eyes were glued to the screens. I gestured the Nanokuma to fly towards the hangar. Maki surged out of the Exisal with a crossbow and shot Kokichi.

I felt my heart drop when his face twisted in pain.

Then, as if all contact was shut off, the Nanokuma started spiralling down and crashed to the floor.

I pounded my fist on the table in anger.

[...]

Kokichi was dead.

He was dead, crushed under the hydraulic press.

I had to reveal that awful truth during the class trial.

Kaito was also dead. He died during his execution from the illness he had developed.

All because of me.

Maki cried, everybody cried. They cried the deaths of everyone, cursing the person behind this whole thing.

...

I hate myself.

Why... why did this have to happen to me? Why did I audition for this stupid show?

...

I had to end this.

...

Shortly after, Keebo started destroying the school, saying it didn't matter, with the type of world we lived in. I told him I would uncover the truth and he gave me time to "investigate". I went around with everyone, leading them to possibe clues that could uncover who the Mastermind was. I could almost feel the producers breathing down my neck, making sure I don't mess this up.

And I couldn't.

If I did, it was the end for my loved ones.

The truth was about to come out. And this time, there would be no lies. I will do it.


	6. Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reveal.

I entered the dark elevator, anxiety filling my entire body, along with the rest of my equally nervous classmates.

Maki placed a hand on my shoulder from behind, making me jump out of surprise.

"We will discover who's the true Mastermind and get out of here, I promise, Shuichi. And I'll help you the whole way."

I smiled warmly under her words, forgetting for a quick instant what I was about to do.

I didn't say anything and just looked down, staring at the floor, wishing I had my cap with me.

"Shuichi! We will all be in your hands! I trust you with my whole heart!" said Keebo, a hand over his heart.

I still didn't say anything, continuing to stare at the floor. I saw Keebo's eyes frown in worry for a slight second at my lack of reaction, before he looked away.

We finally arrived at the bottom, at the class trial room.

The room had changed; it was bigger, brighter and even more threatening. The pressure was suffocating and I felt like passing out.

I tried pumping myself up, telling myself that after this, everything will be over and I will be able to go back to my family to explain what happened to them and life will go back to normal, but it didn't work.

I gulped as I took my place. The room seemed empty, with all the portraits filling the empty places.

Then, the debate began.

We talked about Rantaro, about his Ultimate Talent and the fact that he had the Survivor Perk. They also exposed the Sixth Monokub, the Nanokumas, which I was surprised they'd found out about when they told me about it earlier.

Then, we opened the Rantaro case again. Maki had found the second shot put ball that had fallen in the Mastermind's room. They had noticed the little speck of pink fabric on it. I quickly told them that it wasn't her who had killed Rantaro and that it had to have been the Mastermind, since the doors were closing when we came in the room.

They all agreed and moved on to try and uncover the Mastermind's true identity.

The air was tense.

Everybody gave their alibis again. Tsumugi was in the dining room, Keebo was in his room alone and Maki was with Himiko and the others.

And I was supposedly with Kaede, but they knew I was separated from her and was alone for a little while.

"But Shuichi didn't have the receiver with him, that's what Kaede said, so it definitely can't be Shuichi!" said Himiko. I sighed. "Actually... that was a lie. Kaede was lying about this the whole time... I had the receiver."

They all looked at me. "Huh? But why did she lie about that?" asked Tsumugi. "I think that's because she wanted me to realize what she was doing." I said, feeling a little sick in my stomach, thinking about all she went through just because of me. "Yeah, that's what she said too, right?" started Keebo. "Plus, I couldn't be Shuichi, you're probably the less suspicious person in the whole thing!" he finished. "Yeah, Shuichi's been carrying the class trials since the beginning, so he's out of suspicions." declared Maki.

I gulped again, feeling a lump build up in my throat.

"So then, who else could it have been?" asked Keebo. Everyone pondered in silence.

"Actually... Tsumugi, didn't you say you went to the bathroom when all of that happened?" asked Maki.

"Ah! Yes that's correct, b-but just as I reached the door, I bumped into someone. And u-um, that someone was..."

She looked at me.

"It was Shuichi." Again, all eyes snapped on me. Their eyes all widened a little and Maki looked confused. "Shuichi? What were you doing in the girls' bathroom?" asked Keebo nervously.

It's time. The final reveal.

I remembered what the production told me the other day as I laid in my bed in my bedroom.

"The past Masterminds were pretty boring and the public's tired of the sadistic yet serious Masterminds. The public wants some action for the reveal."

"Some action?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"Yes! So you'll give them some! You'll act like a crazy mastermind psychopath and blow them all away. We programmed your brain a little to be exceptionally good at acting too, so you don't have to worry about that."

"W-what?!! No, I can't do that!!"

"Already forgotten our deal?"

Immediately, I froze. The man chuckled.

"That's what I thought. You will act like a deranged psychopath and blow away your little classmates. And you don't have a choice. If you don't, we'll start with your aunt."

I shivered.

"P-please don't..."

The man snickered.

"Oh, the despair you must be feeling, being stuck in situation like this! This is amazing; this is how the past masterminds felt when giving despair this way! How exhilarating!"

The man laughed again.

"Well, good luck now!"

...

"Shuichi!"

I snapped back to reality.

All of my friends were looking at me with confused eyes.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I zoned out."

"You zoned out? Just when we started talking about you?" asked Tsumugi, suspicion in her voice.

"U-uh, s-sorry and uh, yes, it's true I did encounter Tsumugi on my way out."

"But why were you in that bathroom Shuichi?" asked Himiko.

No lies. No more lies.

"Oh! And when we asked Motherkuma to give birth to a Monokuma, you said "give us one" didn't you?"

I stayed quiet. I looked down at the floor, wishing I had my hat.

There was only silence for a few seconds.

Until Maki spoke out.

"The bathroom, your sudden disappearance, the fact you never said "give birth" to Motherkuma, Kaede's lie, it all makes sense now. Shuichi Saihara... you're..."

Her voice was laced with anger. I noticed the slight shaking in it as well.

"You're the Mastermind of this horrible killing game!"

I still looked down at the floor, I didn't say anything, gathering my thoughts.

I tried to shut off all of my feelings, shut off everything around me. Then, the show started.

I let out a single chuckle.

"Aw man, I've been caught. Bummer."

I looked up and saw Maki's eyes widen, her eyebrows furrow in panic and her mouth open in surprise.

I forced a grin on my face. I pulled my arms up and placed them behind my head, lifting my head up confidently.

"Yep, you caught me! I'm the Mastermind of this marvelous killing game! Oooooh, how exciting! The thrill, it's so good!"

I giggled, looking over to the others. They were horrified, frozen into place.

"Shuichi... y-you..."

Maki spoke softly yet menacingly.

"You traitor! You bastard! You absolute monster!"

Ouch.

I forced yet another psychotic laughter, my stomach twisting.

"Call me whatever you want, I don't give a flying fuck about anything you say! All I care about is..."

I grinned.

"The despair filling your faces! Oh, how beautiful it is! This is... t-this is awesome!"

I stepped on the rails of my spot and stood on top of it.

I slowly walked on top of the other pedestals and finally reached Monokuma's spot.

Turning back to my friends, who had gathered all close together, Maki standing in front of them protectively, I grinned.

The bear jumped on my shoulders, latching itself on my back as I stood in front of Monokuma's throne.

"S-Shuichi! P-Please tell me this is j-just a sick joke!" shouted Keebo, trembling.

"Nope! It's not! I'm the one behind the whoooooole entire thing!~"

I giggled and sat down on the throne.

"It was..."

Maki's eyes were burning with rage.

"It was all a lie?! All the times we spent together, all the times you laughed with Kaito and I, all the times you helped us solve mysteries and pumped up the group- you... it- it was all a lie?!"

"Bingo! All fake! I don't give a shit about any of you!"

I can't believe I just said that.

"Everything was a lie! This whole world that was created was a lie!"

"W-what do you mean?!" asked Himiko, who'd started crying, held by Tsumugi.

I snapped my fingers, and immediately, the room began shifting.

Screens descended from the roof, showing the faces of the public, as well as the comments. Most comments right now where about my revelation, everybody was going crazy over the fact that a shy, timid, anxious detective like me was the Mastermind.

I grinned and cupped my face with my hands.

"It's all a game! You are killing each other for the entertainment of the outside world! There is no apocalypse out there, the world is rather calm actually! Too calm! So this show was invented, to disturb the peace! All of this is just a measly reality TV show made for everyone at home to watch!"

"N-No way!" shouted Keebo.

I laughed.

"Yes way! Oh! And you're all fictional characters too! When you auditioned for this show, all of your old memories were replaced by fabricated memories made by the production! In other words, all you know about yourself is a lie! Everything's fake, you're just an artificial intruder in a stranger's body!"

They looked horrified. It broke my heart to see them this way, but they had to know everything.

I answered their questions about the outside world and continued speaking to them about the truths of the world. I even showed them Maki, Kaito and Kaede's audition videos, which I'd never seen myself. I was suprised, to be honest. I never expected them to say the things they said, and certainly didn't expect Maki to be a stuttering nervous mess.

Then, a few minutes later, the show was over. Keebo, who's will had been taken over by the public, and the others all didn't vote, which slowly caused the faces on the screens to disappear.

I faked a panicked state, claiming the killing game had to continue or else the world would become too boring. But then, as the last person stopped watching the show, I immediately stopped the pitiful act, gaining back a more serious face.

Confusion strained my comrades' faces and just before I could speak out to explain them, Keebo stepped forward.

"You lost Shuichi! Your twisted game is over! And I will destroy the academy!"

[...]

I found myself standing in front of the academy, looking at the glass sky.

Keebo was rapidly destroying the academy, carrying the will of the public. He said he wants to execute everyone, including the three girls and obviously, myself.

And I was totally okay with this.

A painful death was all I deserved.

My hair flew in the wind created by the academy slowly falling apart. I just stood there, not looking anywhere else.

I felt something move beside me.

It was Monokuma.

"Well, this is the end! You were an awesome Mastermind Shuichi!"

I didn't say anything, just staring at the sky. Then, I took a deep breath.

"Hey... Monokuma, one last question."

"Puhuhuhu... what is it?"

"Is it really over? Will there be no more killing games?"

There was a small silence. All I could hear was Keebo's explosions in the distance.

"The killing games will never stop. Not unless the public actually wants it."

"Didn't they all stop watching it?"

Monokuma giggled.

"Oh man... yes of course the public was very affected and many of them disconnected, but who knows what will happen when the next season airs? As long as people still watch it, Danganronpa will stay alive."

I frowned.

"Then, I just have to make sure nobody else watches it anymore, right?"

The bear slowly turned to look at me.

"I'll truly end this killing game. For good and for real."

Monokuma giggled again.

"Shuichi, you truly are the best Mastermind this serie has seen."

Monokuma jumped on my back, like he did in the trial room.

"I wish you the best of luck!" the childish voice said.

Then, Keebo appeared in front of me.

He flew through the air and stopped in front of me mid air.

His eyes were glowing, showing he was under the public's control again.

He pointed his lasers at me.

I was going to die here. Of course, it was all virtual, but this was going to affect me in real life too, since most injuries and deaths in game affect our real bodies.

But I felt happy.

So happy.

I had not felt this genuinely happy in a long time. I had finally revealed myself, the game was going to end and everything would go back to normal again. I would see them on the other side and become friends with them, for real this time. No lies anymore.

I smiled warmly at him.

"Thank you, Keebo." I said.

I lifted my hand and waved at him, keeping a smile on my face.

His face twisted in sadness, before he shut his eyes.

The last thing I saw before everything went dark were two bright lasers coming straight for me.


	7. Misery

_"Shumaaaaaai!~ Shumai wait for me!"_

_I turned around to face the energetic little purple haired guy. I sighed._

_"What's wrong Kokichi?" He pouted. "Aw, why do you look so mad my beloved? I just want to hang out with you, y'know, because I love you!~"_

_I felt my stomach fill itself with butterflies and my cheeks heat up. But that couldn't be true._

_"... was that a lie?"_

_He did one of his manipulative grins._

_"Maybe~! Okay now, follow me, we're going to go play a little game~"_

_..._

I gasped as I opened my eyes.

I couldn't breath. My entire body was hurting so bad I couldn't move.

The pressure on my body was relieved and in front of me, I saw the glass of the pod I was in slowly open. I stumbled out of the pod, my legs instantly giving out under me. I gasped for air, as I laid on the floor, panicked. As much as I tried, nothing worked. All I could manage to breathe in were small portions.

Then, I felt a hand move towards my face, holding some sork of mask. They put the mask on my face. With this on, I was finally able to breath correctly. I slowly calmed down, my conscience slowly coming back to me.

I weakly looked up to who had saved me.

It was a man I recognized all too well. I'd seen so many pictures of him before.

He grinned. My eyes widened.

"Why hello there, Mr. Mastermind!"

He was the man behind the terrible voice that forced me to do all those horrible things. And he was...

He was Kokichi's dad.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Y-you're K-Kok...-kich-chi's... dad..." I managed to say, still breathing with difficulty, my lungs on fire.

"That's right, and I'm also the CEO of Team Danganronpa. It's a pleasure to meet you face to face... Mister Saihara."

He spat out my last name like it was poison.

My thoughts were all crumbling together as I tried to understand what was happening. My brain was hurting, my chest was hurting, my entire body was screaming in pain.

I let out a pained whimper as I tried to stand up, collapsing back down instantly.

"Don't even try moving. Your chest was blown to pieces, so if you try to stand up, your lungs or heart will probably fail you instantly."

My entire body froze as another pang of pain coursed through my body.

"P-Please... wh-hat do... you... want fr-rom me?"

"Oh, many things."

I gulped. He leaned towards me.

"Shuichi Saihara..."

He giggled. Now that I hear it close, that giggle did sound a lot like Kokichi's little horse laugh.

"Saihara... I hate that name. It's so ugly, and it reeks of you and your family's disgusting hope."

"H-huh?"

His shit eating grin faded.

"When I was 17, I participated in season 41. After the first virtual season aired, I became obsessed. So obsessed that I decided to take part in it."

He gained back this manipulative smile of his.

"I also wanted my friends to participate with me, obviously! They were all equally obsessed with the show as well."

He giggled.

...

"Now now, since you're such a good and awesome detective, my little Shuichi, guess who were said friends!"

I looked in the man's eyes.

His purple eyes, the same color as Kokichi's, looked crazy. Swirls of despair seemed to dig deeper endlessly in them. A crazy grin was plastered on his face, even crazier than Kokichi's own grins.

No, I can't compare this man to Kokichi.

Then, realization hit me. He'd been talking about my name, my last name to be precise... but also... about my family.

"Y-you're... you were friends with my parents?" I asked, my voice cracking midway.

"Ding ding ding! You got it!"

He laughed.

"I asked your dear mom and dad, as well as a few other irrelevant nobodies if they wanted to join me... but..."

His face twisted into a horrible angry rictus. He was getting crazier by the second, and it was terrifying.

"They didn't want to. They abandoned me... they hated me... they rejected me... they made me feel so much... despair."

He let out a huff. His head suddenly snapped around to look at me, his eyes digging into my own, like he was trying to consume my soul.

"So, I've decided to finally get my revenge." He said with a mad grin, replacing the distorted rictus he had before. "Make their pathetic offspring feel the despair of rejection, abandonment and hate from others is truly amazing! When I saw you audition, I was ecstatic. Finally! Finally I could get my revenge!"

He opened his arms wide open in front of me.

"Plus, you fucked up the show by revealing too much, we lost too much watchers. This is all your fucking fault so now, you're going to pay for it."

"What do you w-want from me! Please..."

I felt tears trickle the corners of my eyes and slowly slide down my cheeks. The weight of all this information was too much, I felt like passing out and the room suddenly felt extremely small.

"Please leave me alone... please, I'm begging you! Please don't put me in another game...!"

"Another game? No! Of course not!"

He grinned at me. I shuddered violently, feeling my heart getting stuck in my throat.

"I want you to suffer... suffer from the despair I felt..." he approached me suddenly, making me jump slightly. He grabbed my chin and made me look up at him.

"I know of your relationship with my son too. You like him, and he liked you too."

My eyes widened.

"T-that's n-not-"

"Shut up. It was very clear. So that's why..."

He lifted his thumbs that were holding my face and pulled on my cheeks harshly, stretching my skin.

"If you ever get close to him, or any other of your little new friends, I'll kill your pathetic family."

My heart tightened and it suddenly felt like my entire world came crashing down.

"N-no!"

"Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes! A million times yes! This is your special punishment Shuichi!~"

I felt the tears coming up again.

"Please... please don't do this."

"Oh yes I will! I can't wait to see the despair on your face and feed from it!"

His words made me shudder again. He was crazy, totally insane.

He raised his thumb again and wiped my tears away. I was trembling. I couldn't stop trembling actually.

"How long do you plan to make me suffer like this-" My voice cracked, as a sob escaped my lips. Tears started sliding down my cheeks again. I wouldn't even be able to live a normal life, like I wanted. I did this all, only for things to get even worse than before. This is a nightmare, it has to be. I'll wake up in my bed, in my uncle's apartment and go get breakfast, like nothing's wrong.

But unfortunately, it wasn't a nightmare, it was reality.

"Oh! How long? Hummm... let me see..."

He released one of his face from my face to touch his own chin, pondering.

"Well... until I'm bored."

"B-Bored?!"

"Yep, that's right. Until I get sick of your despair, you'll just have to endure it!"

I thought it couldn't get worst, yet it just did.

He grinned at me again.

"Suck it up and obey me. You don't have a choice."

I couldn't do it anymore and my head collapsed on the hard cold floor. My lungs were on fire, my stomach was twisted, my throat was tied in a knot and my heart was throbbing.

Before I could finish processing all that just happened, I passed out.


	8. Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The killing game was a virtual reality...

??? POV

I woke up, the sun hitting my eyes instantly. I groaned and mumbled a curse under my breath as I got out of bed quickly to move away from the sunlight.

"Oh hey Kokichi, you're awake."

I looked up to see Rantaro. He was sitting at the desk, reading a book.

"Well duh, obviously I'm awake, what are you, blind?"

The green haired man chuckled.

"It's 7 AM, we have breakfast in 15 minutes, so you better get dressed."

I grinned and lifted an eyebrow.

"Oh?~ Rantaro-chan wants to see me get dressed? How naughty, I didn't think you were the dirty type."

The man rolled his eyes. I let out a little giggle; he was so easy to mess with, but he wasn't as expressive as Shuichi.

Shuichi... I wonder how he's doing in the game...

I got out of my nightwear and dressed myself new clothes. These clothes were very similar to the ones we had in that stupid game but a little different, I was kind of sick of always wearing the same outfit so this is a nice change.

"I'm ready Rantaro!~"

"Oh? Alright then."

The man got up from his seat, stretched and opened the door to get out.

We shared a room together, assigned by those dumb idiots that keep pestering us everyday.

These same idiots were apparently the reason we were all still alive. Or so that's what they said, they could be lying. They told us the whole thing was actually virtual, which is why everyone didn't die. I mean, I'm glad I'm alive, but this is weird.

I still remember the sensation of being crushed. It was awful, and I'll never say this to anyone but I'm getting multiple nightmares at night because of it.

I shook my head, trying to shoo away the image and sensation of the cold metal of the press on my body.

I lifted my hands and put them behind my head as I walked through the hallway behind Rantaro.

Eventually, we got to the common dining area, where everyone was already seated at random tables. Rantaro waved at Kaede, Ryoma and Kirumi and went to sit with them. They'd all become very close with each other, since they were the first ones to die; especially Kaede and Rantaro. They were probably dating, not that I cared or anything, I don't give a shit about who's getting pussy/dick or not.

I took my plate and looked around for a table.

Then, I saw Kaito and Gonta sitting at a table, talking with each other.

I grinned and slowly crept up behind Kaito, putting a finger on my lips when Gonta saw me.

"Boo!"

"AHHHH!"

I couldn't help myself from laughing. Kaito growled something as Gonta softly laughed at the situation.

"You little shit!"

"Oops!~ Didn't mean to do that."

"That's such an obvious lie."

I giggled as I sat down beside them.

"Anyways- how are you doing today Kokichi?" asked Kaito.

"Wow Kaito are you worried about me?~ Don't worry I won't tell Maki when she gets here."

"Shut up, you annoying gremlin! I'm trying to be nice, you should try it too sometimes."

"Ruuuude! Anyways- I'm doing perfectly fine!~"

"Uhhh, Gonta thinks that's a lie." the man said with a nervous smile.

"Gonta's getting more intelligent, that's so cool!~" I cheered, clasping my hands together.

"Gonta is trying his hardest to understand Kokichi more! He knows Kokichi is nice."

"I'm not a good person Gonta, c'mon now, you known that!"

"If Kokichi is referring to what happened in the game then-"

Gonta shook his head.

"Gonta does not blame Kokichi. Forgave Kokichi already."

I felt my heart warm up a little.

Honestly, this wasn't the first time he said he forgave me, but everytime he and Miu said they didn't blame me for my actions, after hearing the true purpose behind my actions, it always felt really nice to hear.

"I know that dumb dumb! I was just messing with you."

Kaito rolled his eyes as Gonta let out a "ohhh" and I giggled.

As I was eating, I looked around the room, scanning for who was there and who wasn't.

"1...2...3........ and 11. All of us are here today, wow!~" I muttered under my breath.

Kaito gave me a curious look before going back to his food.

There were 4 tables total in the place, but we only took 3 of them. The first table was Kaede, Rantaro, Ryoma and Kirumi. They apparently all had a deep talk after the second class trial, talking about the game and all, hence why they became that close. The second group was Korekiyo, Angie, Tenko and Miu. Miu kind of switched from table to table all the time, but as for the three others, they also apparently talked a lot to each other, notably about their problems. Both girls forgave the man and became good friends.

As for the last table, well, it's Kaito, Gonta and I.

At first, when everyone learned what I did to Gonta and Miu, they were all mad at me and ignored me for days, until Kaito came along and explained, with my help of course, the plan I had. Most of them still don't trust me, but they just choose to not make a fuss over it, since it was just a virtual game after all.

"Just a virtual game" my ass. This is another one of these idiots' lies. Well, it's not entirely a lie.

The way we died all gave us some kind of problem after that. For example, Rantaro suffers from frequent headaches now, because of the way he died. Ryoma is now scared of water, Kirumi has a newfound fear of heights as well as phantom pains all over her body, Kaede and Miu have difficulty breathing, Korekiyo often dissociates, Angie and Tenko both have frequent headaches like Rantaro and Kaito and Gonta suffers from stomachaches.

As for me, my entire body always hurts in some way or another. It's not intense to the point where I can't walk or something, but it's just enough to become annoying.

As I finished eating, letting out a sigh and putting my hands behind my head again, a door opened.

It was the door that connected our small dining area to what apparently was the office where these idiots came from.

"Good morning everyone! Feeling better?"

Nobody answered the tall woman.

You see, after getting out and seeing how all of this was just a sick virtual game, none of us were happy about it. Even if I found this a little funny at the beginning, it was just plain horrible to make teenagers like us go through this.

Apart from that information, they won't tell us anything. They waited until "the end" of the game.

"Guess what everyone? The game is over!"

Immediately, everyone looked at the brown haired woman.

"The survivors and Mastermind were all pulled out of the game two days ago, after a last class trial."

"And where are they? Why are they not here yet??" asked Kaito.

"We just wanted to keep the surprise!"

"What surprise, this is just your sick ignorant game and we're not playing it anymore." said Ryoma coldly.

"It's fun for us! Plus, your little survivors really fucked up everything, so many people were touched by the ending that they declared they would never watch it again! So, I don't care what you think."

'Huh? What people?'

The woman tch'ed. Then, she clapped her hands one time and switched her frown to a smile.

"Ok-ay! Get seated! Get ready for the finale!"


	9. Shuichi...?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The others find out.

She quickly went to the TV that was stuck to the wall across from the dining room, in front of three sofas forming a C shape around a small tea table.

She lit it up and immediately, Shuichi popped up on the screen.

Everyone moved to the sofas. I walked there, but I decided to lean against the back of the sofas instead of sitting down.

"These are kind of little robots." said Maki, as they looked at a picture.

The picture showed some small Monokumas that held big cameras.

"Is this what they used to monitor us?" asked Keebo.

"Seems like it." said Shuichi.

Shuichi had a weird look on his face, like he was confused and surprised at the same time.

Then, they all proceeded to get into the elevator that would bring them down to the trial room.

Maki put a hand on Shuichi's shoulder, which seemed to surprise him a little too much.

"We will discover who's the true Mastermind and get out of here, I promise, Shuichi. And I'll help you the whole way."

He smiled nervously, but he didn't say anything. This was unlike him, he would usually snap back with one of his little hope filled statements, but instead, he just stared at the floor.

"Shuichi! We will all be in your hands! I trust you with my whole heart!" said Keebo, a hand over his heart.

This time, I noticed his eyes widen and he swallowed. He looked extremely nervous, even more nervous than during the other trials.

And I can say that for certain, after all, I've rewatched the whole thing to analyze it from my newfound point of view. It was weird, but I could maybe understand a little why this was entertaining to these idiots like that woman over there. It still disgusted me honestly, why do you need to make other people suffer like this if you're looking to have fun? Why not just pull some pranks or stuff like that instead; it's harmless and doesn't ruin fuckin' lives.

"Pooichi looks like he's going to pass out." stated Miu.

"You're right! He does look pretty pale..." said Angie.

"He's probably just nervous, give him a break guys!" said Kaito.

"Yeah, it must be hard being Shuichi! I mean- I'd be prettyyyy nervous too if I carried the entire trials on my back like he does!~" I said with the most mischievous grin I could give.

"Shut it, c*ck sucker!" shouted Miu.

"Make me, you nasty sl*t."

She shrieked and mumbled something back, before we all turned back to the TV.

They were stating facts after facts. They uncovered many many truths; they even revealed some of my own secrets I'd worked so hard to hide. I'd have to punish Shuichi for that later.

Then, they finally revealed the secret behind Rantaro's murder.

That it wasn't actually Kayayayaede.

Both victims looked pretty shocked. Kaede was absolutely horrified and she couldn't even believe it. When they came to the conclusion that the Mastermind had done it, we were all pretty disturbed, even myself, I totally didn't expect that.

Kirumi paused the show.

"Are you okay Kaede? We don't have to continue if you feel bad." she said with worry.

"N-No it's fine, I'm okay, thank you for worrying about me guys! I just... didn't expect that-"

"It's not fine; you went through that horrible execution for nothing. I'm not the type to hold grudges but this Mastermind... they're totally awful and disgusting." said Rantaro, frowning and shaking his head.

"I agree! What kind of freak psychopath does this??" shouted Miu.

"Don't you remember seeing the Mastermind, Rantaro?" asked Angie.

"Ah... about that- I seem to have lost all memories of around 5 minutes before I was killed." the man said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yes, we removed your memories from that time so that you wouldn't reveal the Mastermind to anyone when they wake up!"

Rantaro tch'ed, visibly upset. Kaede put a hand on his shoulder and he turned to face her with a hint of worry on his face.

"Let's start it back up now! I want to see who's the nasty little deranged motherfucker we have to deal with now!~" I said, getting bored of all this mushy stuff.

"God damnit Kokichi, read the mood!" said Kaito.

I let out a giggle as Kirumi sighed and unpaused the show.

They started giving out their alibis during that time. So far, everything was good, until it came to... Shuichi and Tsumugi.

Kaede froze when they heard the others say how Shuichi had mysteriously left the room with Kaede in it.

"But Shuichi didn't have the receiver with him, that's what Kaede said, so it definitely can't be Shuichi!" said Himiko.

The others in the room agreed with this statement, but Kaede was still frozen into place.

"Actually... that was a lie. Kaede was lying about this the whole time... I had the receiver."

I smirked.

I knew that this was a lie, it really sounded suspicious when I first heard it.

They all looked at Shuichi. "Huh? But why did she lie about that?" asked Tsumugi. "I think that's because she wanted me to realize what she was doing." Shuichi said, fiddling with his fingers.

"I'm sorry everyone, for lying." said Kaede.

"Kaede is pretty good at lying, I almost thought it was real, nishishishi!~" I said.

"It's fine Kaede, don't worry about it!" shouted Tenko.

Kaede smiled before turning back to the screen.

"Yeah, that's what she said too, right?" continued Keebo. "Plus, it couldn't be Shuichi, you're probably the less suspicious person in the whole thing!" he finished. "Yeah, Shuichi's been carrying the class trials since the beginning, so he's out of suspicions." declared Maki with a scary face.

"You see! Even Maki thinks the same thing as me!" I shouted.

"Don't get too cocky now, you leech!" said Angie with a passive aggressive tone, a smile plastered on her face.

I smirked before going back to the screen.

"So then, who else could it have been?" asked Keebo. Everyone pondered in silence.

"Actually... Tsumugi, didn't you say you went to the bathroom when all of that happened?" asked Maki.

"Ah! Yes that's correct, b-but just as I reached the door, I bumped into someone. And u-um, that someone was..."

There was a heavy silence. Everyone in the room was staring at the television, anxiously waiting for Tsumugi's words to come out.

"It was Shuichi."

...

My whole entire body froze. The air around the room suddenly felt more heavy.

'No...'

"Shuichi? What were you doing in the girls' bathroom?" asked Keebo nervously.

Shuichi stared at the floor with seemingly panicked eyes.

"Shuichi!" Keebo's voice pierced the silence.

His eyes snapped up to look at him.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I zoned out." he said.

His voice was trembling, much like how my whole body was trembling right now.

I won't believe it.

"You zoned out? Just when we started talking about you?" asked Tsumugi, suspicion in her voice.

I don't believe this.

"U-uh, s-sorry and uh, yes, it's true I did encounter Tsumugi on my way out." Shumai muttered.

...

"But why were you in that bathroom Shuichi?" asked Himiko, her hands gripping the borders of her stupid ugly hat.

...

"Oh! And when we asked Motherkuma to give birth to a Monokuma, you said "give us one" didn't you?" asked plain Jane Tsumugi.

Multiple gasps were heard from all around the room. I saw Kayayade staring at the screen, eyes wide and mouth wide open in shock.

Miss assassin spoke.

"The bathroom, your sudden disappearance, the fact you never said "give birth" to Motherkuma, Kaede's lie, it all makes sense now. Shuichi Saihara... you're..."

Her voice was laced with anger.

"You're the Mastermind of this horrible killing game. And that's the truth."

...

There was another heavy silence.

"Aw man, I've been caught. Bummer."

My heart skipped a beat.

That playful tone, that mocking tone, it didn't even felt real.

"Yep, you caught me! I'm the Mastermind of this marvelous killing game! Oooooh, how exciting! The thrill, it's so good!"

He grinned like a madman, giggling like a psychopath.

This isn't Shumai.

This isn't Shuichi.

This isn't the shy detective I've grown to like over the past few weeks.

This was a complete stranger.

"No! This has got to be a joke! Shuichi must be pulling a prank or something! My sidekick would never... do something like that!" shouted Kaito, his voice trembling and his face filled with emotions.

"S-shuichi?? This can't be! He can't be the Mastermind!" said Kaede, tears sliding down her cheeks.

Everyone else either had a distressed, confused, horrified or panicked expression on their face.

"Shuichi... y-you..."

Maki spoke softly yet menacingly.

"You traitor! You bastard! You absolute monster!"

His eyebrows twitched like he was mentally deranged and then he let out the most unhinged laugh that I've ever heard. It felt so forced, yet genuine at the same time.

Everyone in the living room and class trial room was terrified.

I couldn't believe it.

Did he... lie to us all this time? How did I not see it? I've seen through Shuichi's lies before... but how didn't I see through this one?

This whole thing itself never felt like a big fat lie.

When he finished laughing, his face twisted into disgust.

"Call me whatever you want, I don't give a flying fuck about anything you say! All I care about is..."

He grinned.

"The despair filling your faces! Oh, how beautiful it is! This is... t-this is awesome!"

Beside me, Kaito was muttering the word "No" all over again, his eyes not peeling away from the television even just one second.

Everyone in the trial room began gathering all together, except Shuichi of course. Maki stood protectively in front of the three others, her face twisted in anger and small tears prickling the corners of her eyes.

Shuichi smirked and climbed on top of the pedestal.

He stepped all over the others and finally reached Monokuma's throne, where the bear was waiting.

When he got there, Monokuma jumped on his shoulder and giggled as Shuichi smirked even harder.

Suddenly, Kaede stood up and ran out of the living room. Rantaro went after her immediately, as well as Kirumi.


	10. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s hard to believe Shuichi is the true Mastermind of the killing game they hated.

"S-Shuichi! P-Please tell me this is j-just a sick joke!" shouted Keebo, trembling.

"Nope! It's not! I'm the one behind the whoooooole entire thing!~"

He sat down on the throne and crossed his legs.

"It was..."

Maki's eyes were burning with rage.

"It was all a lie?! All the times we spent together, all the times you laughed with Kaito and I, all the times you helped us solve mysteries and pumped up the group- you... it- it was all a lie?!"

The room's atmosphere darkened as everyone was probably reminded of the rest of the game.

Shuichi was a friend to most of them. He helped with the class trials, he was the kindest person ever and helped everyone else. He even spent his free time with all of us, instead of doing anything for himself.

All the times he spent with me too... was it all a lie? Was it all fake? 

Shuichi's piercing demonic laughter shattered the room's silence.

"Bingo! All fake! I don't give a shit about any of you!"

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Kaito stand up suddenly. His fists were clenched and he gritted his teeth. Wow, this was probably the last sentence I expected to escape his mouth.

"Everything was a lie! This whole world that was created was a lie!"

"W-what do you mean?!" asked Himiko, who'd started crying, held closely by Tsumugi.

He snapped his fingers pretentiously.

Screens descended from the roof, showing multiple faces.

"W-what is this?!" shouted Tenko.

Sentences started flowing through the air of the trial room. I saw most of them talk about Shuichi and his "reveal".

Shuichi grinned and cupped his face with his hands.

"It's all a game! You are killing each other for the entertainment of the outside world! There is no apocalypse out there, the world is rather calm actually! Too calm! So this show was invented, to disturb the peace! All of this is just a measly reality TV show made for everyone at home to watch!"

"N-No way!" shouted Keebo.

Shuichi's laughter once again pierced the silence.

"Yes way! Oh! And you're all fictional characters too! When you auditioned for this show, all of your old memories were replaced by fabricated memories made by the production! In other words, all you know about yourself is a lie! Everything's fake, you're just an artificial intruder in a stranger's body!"

...

Excuse me?

"What the fuckin' hell is this?!" shouted Miu.

"No way, I won't believe this! This piece of shit of a degenerate is telling all lies!" shouted Tenko.

"I refuse to believe this as well, it seems very unlikely." said Korekiyo, with a hint of worry and panic in his voice.

"Gonta's not sure to understand... does this mean Gonta isn't actually Gonta?"

"Atua is telling me that this is complete bullshit!" Angie’s voice was trembling, despite the face she was making.

As Maki and the others were asking Shuichi questions, the entire room was bursting into incomprehensible shouting and panicking.

As for me... well... I really don't think this is a lie.

It actually makes complete sense.

It explains these weird flashbacks I've been having recently. Some of them included myself with three purple haired kids, others showed me and a taller purple haired woman and some of them even showed a... mysterious person. I couldn't see their face, my memories were all hazy and blurry whenever it came to their face. I could only see their neat black suit, accompanied by a blue striped tie.

Shuichi further explained how most of our "in game" personalities were actually improved versions of our real personalities, meaning they were actually pretty similar.

I still have a hard time acknowledging all I knew didn't actually exist. My D.I.C.E. friends... they really didn't exist. I felt my heart squeeze a little, before I took a deep breath and stared at the television again. There seemed to be a conflict between Shuichi and the others. And after a few minutes, the screens slowly started to shut down all around them.

But, as soon as all of it shut down completely, the screen went black for a few seconds, before it glitched to another view.

This was still Keebo's point of view, but now, he was destroying everything around him. His lasers shot at everything, not leaving a speck of what the academy used to be behind.

"Go off Keebo baby!" shouted Miu. "Use these motherfuckin' lazers to their full extent!"

As if he heard Miu, he powered up an attack at the academy building. It made a huge explosion.

Then, as he got to the front of the building, he stopped in front of something.

It was Shuichi.

And he was...

Smiling.

A genuine smile.

The smile I'd grown to adore over the last few weeks.

A smile I thought was filled with happiness and trust, but now...

I can't help but see the lies hiding behind it.

Just as he opened his mouth to say something, the screen became black and all audio was cut off.

"Show is over!" shouted the woman. "How'd you like the ending? Didn't expect your cute, shy and adorable detective to turn out like this huh?"

"You guys... y-you did something to him!" shouted Kaito.

"Calm down Kaito..."

We all turned around to the origin of the voice.

Besides the Team Danganronpa doors, Keebo, who looked a lot different, Maki, Tsumugi and Himiko stood there.

Kaito launched himself at Maki and hugged her as hard as he could. Maki hugged him back instantly, her eyes filling with tears. It was a touching sight, really, as much as I hate to admit it.

"Aw, that's so cute I might start crying!" I said, faking a sniff.

Maki opened her eyes and glared at me.

"You're alive." she said.

"Duh! I don't die that easily, Maaaa-ki Roll!"

"Shut up, don't call me that you stupid gremlin." she snapped back.

I giggled as she let out a sigh.

"Back to the subject at hand-" said the woman. "Shuichi's brain, unlike you all, wasn't tampered with! This is his true self, in and out of the game!"

"Shuichi's... like this normally?" asked Ryoma, seeming horrified.

"Exactly! His shy persona was just an act!"

An act...

A lie...

...

"Talking about your little detective, here he is!"

Immediately, everyone turned around again. Maki placed herself in front of Kaito and the others protectively, like she did in the class trial.

Footsteps echoed in the silent hall, coming closer every second.

And, out of the shadows came Shuichi.

He looked a little different than from the game, like all of us really (I for example lost my purple tips, I probably never had them in the beginning). His hair was longer and tied in a small ponytail at the back. His bangs were still the same length as usual though. His piercing golden-grey eyes remained the same too...

But they looked different.

They looked... distressed? Confused? Mad?

For the first time in a while, I couldn't read my beloved Shumai at all.

His face was stone cold, he stopped walking a few feet in front of Maki and crossed his arms. His eyes were completely empty and hidden behind the shadow of his bangs and cap. If this had been anyone other than Shuichi, I would have probably found this expression ridiculously fake and forced, but coming from him... it felt totally different.

A heavy silence filled the room.

"Shuichi... please tell me this is all fake. Please tell me this is a joke."

Kaito's desperate voice was trembling. That idiot still fails to acknowledge reality, he never changes. Kaito even leaned closer to Shuichi.

Shuichi's face twitched, before he frowned. He spat out his words like they were poison.

"Are you that dumb Kaito? This isn't a god damn joke, period.”

He tch'ed. Kaito took a small step back. A terrified look crept up on his face. Some others even flinched at his cold tone, including myself. His eyes were filled with disgust and insanity, twirling all together in an endless pit. These eyes didn't even seem to belong to him, it felt like they removed his old kind and sweet golden orbs and replaced them with a random psychopath's eyes that barely even fit with Shuichi.

"I'm NOT your friend, I'm NOT the little shy adworabwle wittle detectivwe you knew." he mocked, gesturing his hands and arms all around him when speaking, like he did in the video we watched a few minutes ago.

I couldn't help but let out a small unnoticed giggle at his mocking tone. This was amusing, yet it wasn’t. Then, all of a sudden, Kaito launched himself at Shuichi. Shuichi's eyes widened, almost going back to normal for a moment, before Kaito's fist entered in contact with his face. A loud crunch resonated in the heavy silence, accompanied by a small whimper of pain.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing Kaito?!" I shouted. But I was ignored completely.

Shuichi collapsed hard on the floor.

He stayed there for a few seconds, as the room fell back into silence again. He coughed up blood and his nose started bleeding. He pushed himself back up with his arms weakly, a neutral look strained with pain on his face.

"This is for fucking with us all throughout the game!" shouted Kaito, who'd started crying. "I can't believe I trusted you, I thought you were my sidekick. You were this kind, amazing and cool guy and... you were my best friend. I can't believe you... you were just a snake. A disgusting traitor!"

I saw Shuichi's eyes widen for a second and his eyebrows shift in horror.

But when I blinked, that seemingly natural reaction of his disappeared as soon as it appeared, quickly replaced with a face twisted with anger.

I... must have imagined that.

"Go cry about it, I don't care. Now, leave me alone."

He got up slowly. His movements were strained and he looked in pain. My heart squeezed a little, looking at him like that. I didn't want to see Shuichi hurt.

Why am I thinking like that? He betrayed us... He was the one thing I swore to destroy and even gave my life to do so. He's the piece of shit who trapped us all in there.

I can't feel bad for... trash like Shuichi Saihara.

He started heading towards the door again.

"Ah-ha! Not so fast Shuichi!" shouted the woman. "I've got an announcement for you all!"

I snapped my head around to look at the annoying hag.

"Since you guys are now all out of the game, you'll be moving out of here! A house funded by Team Danganronpa and the government is built every two years for the new Danganronpa cast, including for you all too! So, you'll be moving in this house tomorrow, but-"

She giggled.

"You guys also have to go back and finish your last year of high school. This is the only condition the government gives us."

"So, if I understand well, we will all be moving in a house designed for us and we will also all have to go back to high school?" asked Korekiyo.

"Exactly!"

I squinted my eyes. Something still bothered me.

"What about our memories?" I asked.

"What memories?" she asked.

"Don't play with me, old lady~ I'm talking about our real memories, not these fake ass ones you made for us."

"Oh, that! U-um..."

She nervously laughed.

"You will never get them back!"


	11. Mansion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mansion tour and Shuichi feels sad (that’s not new though, he’s always sad)

SHUICHI POV

"You will never get them back!"

This felt like one of their lies again. It wouldn't be surprising really.

...

My cheek stung and my eye felt swollen. I would surely have a black eye tomorrow.

My entire body screamed in pain. I was barely out of the hospital bed I woke up in yesterday. They told me I would feel this kind of phantom pain for a while, because of the effects of being blown to pieces.

Kaito's punch didn't help.

But I deserved it.

I deserved that punch for all I've done, this was the least they could do to punish a traitor like me.

"What about Shuichi...? Will he have to stay with us too?" asked Himiko.

Ouch.

I felt my heart sink again.

"Yes, yes, but don't worry, he won't bother you!"

"We should lock him up in a room when we get there so that he doesn't kill us in our sleep!" said Angie.

"Yeah! He's completely degenerate, above all other men, and needs to be tied up!"

I lowered my head, feeling the tears start to sting the corners of my eyes. Luckily, my bangs hid my face well.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

"You don't have to worry about him! Cameras will be installed all throughout the house to monitor him."

I shivered.

"And umm... we all had families before this, right...?" asked Keebo.

"Yes! Well... most of you. I don't know the exact details per heart, but files about your past identities will be handed out to you in a few days."

"Why are we not moving back in with them then?" asked Korekiyo.

"Well-"

The woman hesitated.

This was extremely suspicious. An hypothesis slowly made its way into my mind.

...

Was it all that guy's plan?

Is he... doing this so that Kokichi isn't reminded of me? By trapping him into a house like this, he wouldn't go back to his house and possibly discover things about his past life including... myself.

This has to be it, maybe not completely for that single reason, but at least part of it. The woman's answer would confirm my suspicions.

"We're putting you into a house until you're truly ready to move in back with your parents and be on your own. The trauma of the game may have been more serious for some of you, so we prefer to keep you away from your families for your and their safety."

...

This was exactly what kind of bullshit I thought they would say. I clenched my fists, feeling the rage build up inside of me. Kokichi's father...

He was so focused on ruining my life that he had to do all of this. This is just plain terrible. And he's totally delusional.

But before I completely jump to conclusions, I'll have to investigate a little more. There has to be more.

"Now then; please go back to your occupations and start packing up to leave tomorrow! As for you Shuichi, please come with me; the CEO wants to talk with you."

I frowned as I looked directly into her eyes. She smirked, an hint of evil in her eyes, which were digging into mine.

I felt the eyes of my former friends on me as I slowly stepped forward and walked to go and stand besides the woman. She walked towards the door and opened it.

"See you all later!" she shouted as her figure slowly disappeared behind the door. I was following directly behind her.

As I turned around to close the door, my eyes met with deep purple ones.

Kokichi's eyes widened for a little moment as he stared right into mine.

Then, he frowned a little and broke the eye contact. I closed the door behind me and slowly turned around to walk down the hallway.

I felt the tears coming up again.

[...]

"Ah! Shuichi! How was the sweet little reunion?" asked the man.

I frowned, feeling the anger build up inside of me once again.

"Oh that's not a good look on your face!"

He laughed.

"Well, I don't care! Anyways, you heard about the news; you'll be moving in the house with the others and going to school."

He grinned.

"I will be monitoring you so don't you dare fuck this up."

I gulped.

"Well, that's it!"

"I have one question." I said, trying to make my voice as firm as possible, despite the visible shakiness.

He arched a brow.

"Go on."

"Can I... can I see my uncle again...? Please..."

The man paused.

Then, he giggled, the giggle slowly turning into a full on laughter.

"Oh this is great! Of course you can!"

...

What?

"...there's a catch, right?"

"You know me well. Of course there is! I really don't give a fuck about what you tell your uncle, but you must not tell him anything about our little agreement of course! And you only get one visit, don't want you thinking you're allowed to do whatever you want."

I nodded.

"Thank you."

The man grinned once again.

"Okay now! You better get some rest on these probably painful bones of yours before you move in with your dear friends tomorrow!"

He bursted out into a maniacal laughter again, making me shiver.

"See you later, my beloved Mastermind!"

[...]

"Wow! This place is huge!" shouted Tsumugi.

"How exciting!" said Angie.

"Look Maki Roll! There's even a training room; we'll be able to continue our little training!"

"That's awesome Kaito."

They all slowly looked around the place, navigating through the corridors and the rooms, visiting every corner of the house.

I was slowly following behind them, not making a sound and hiding myself behind my cap, that the production was oh so kind enough to let me have.

There were 6 rooms; 4 of them were very beautiful.

The rooms were super big. There were 4 beds, each one sitting in a corner. In the middle of the room, a small coffee table was placed, surrounded by pillows and comfortable looking bean bags. There were also four desks, which had multiple drawers attached to it and a wardrobe next to it. And finally, suspended to the ceiling were curtains, which could be pulled around the beds for privacy.

The last two rooms looked like guest rooms; there was only one bed, with a small nightstand and a desk similar to the ones found in other rooms, but a little smaller.

After that, we arrived into the kitchen. It was huge and extremely spacious; there was one giant table with 16 seats, an elegant chandelier sitting in the middle of it. The stoves were pretty large, probably to hold the big amounts of food for everyone.

The living room was equally as spacious and ressembled the one in the Danganronpa headquarters a lot. A big piano was also pressed against the wall, besides the television.

There were a couple other ordinary rooms as well; the laundry room, two bathrooms (excluding the ones in every large room) and a few closets.

We then all arrived to the next part of the house.

There was a big exercise room; it had multiple different weapons, machines and other things I didn't exactly recognize. But I did recognize a lot of things from Maki and Tenko's lab. This room was probably made for the two of them, as well as for Kaito and Ryoma, since a tennis net was neatly stored at the back of the room.

The next room was all decorated with multiple disguises, little gadgets and weird objects. Tsumugi was ecstatic, but so was Kokichi and Himiko. The inside really did remind me of a combination of all their in game labs.

Next, we got to a room that was basically the same as Miu's in game lab, but much smaller. It looked pretty cool; I didn't expect the man to go as far as almost reproducing the same rooms as in the game.

The final room was a combination of both Gonta and Korekiyo's labs. Nothing surprising there, it looked pretty much the same, but smaller of course.

Outside the house, there was a small glass building, where they found a pool and small spa. And finally, there was a large empty grass land, probably to play tennis or other various sports.

When they finished, they all went back in and headed towards the rooms.

"Oh! We need to assign ourselves rooms now right?" said Kaito.

"I'm taking Tsumugi, Angie and Himiko! I don't want to room with degenerate males!" shouted Tenko.

"Nyeh, this is okay for me."

"Yes yes me too!" said Angie, putting her hands in a prayer movement.

"Then I guess I'm taking Maki Roll, Kayayayde and Kirumom!" said Miu.

"Don't call me that. Do you want to die?" said Maki with threatening eyes.

I couldn't help but smile at Maki's little threatening sentence.

"This is okay for me. Is it perfect for you, Kaede?" asked Kirumi.

"Yes... yes it is."

Kaede responded absent-mindlessly.

...

I heard of her little outburst when they watched the show together. When I heard about it, I felt so bad.

I feel so guilty. She's been feeling bad about this since yesterday and she refuses to even look at me or talk to me, not that she's any different from the others. But seeing her hurting so much from my pitiful actions pains me completely.

I lowered my head, hiding the small sad frown on my face, even if none of them were looking at me.

"Alrighty then! What about you guys?" asked Tsumugi.

"I'm taking my man Keebo with me!" shouted Kaito, swinging an arm around Keebo's shoulder, making the other boy yelp in surprise.

"Hey! I wanted Keebo too! I want to see if he has a dick now!" said Kokichi.

Kaito and Keebo looked at Kokichi with disgust, as Rantaro bursted into laughter.

"I'm human now Kokichi! I'm like you, so stop asking me such idiotic questions!" responded the former robot.

Kokichi let out one of his horse giggles.

"I'll go with Ryoma." said Rantaro

"Can I please come with you two?" asked Korekiyo, to which the other two nodded.

"Well then, that only leaves Gonta and..."

There was a little silence.

Slowly, everyone turned around.

I felt every stare on me. Angry stares, neutral stares and hurtful stares.

There was a heavy silence.

I gulped and gathered all the courage I could to speak.

"I'll take a guest room."

I turned around, gripping my bag on my back tighter and walked down the hallway to the other end of the corridor. I felt all their stares on me again. I pulled my cap down, even if my back was facing them.

I entered one of the guest rooms and closed the door behind me.

I stayed there, my back against the door, standing for a few seconds, before my knees gave out under me.

I slid down the door and onto the floor. A terrible headache crept its way into my brain, eating at my thoughts.

I felt the tears slowly slide down my cheeks freely. I let out slow sobs, careful not to make them too louds; I didn't know if these rooms were soundproof or not, and one of the gigantic rooms was directly next to mine.

I felt miserable.

After a few minutes, I calmed down, slowly wiped away my tears with my sleeve and stood back up. Pain coursed through my entire body as I slowly let down my bag onto the desk; well, my desk now.

I slowly unpacked the very few things I had. I only brought the personal effects they gave me, the clothes I had when I auditioned and my old phone. The others also all had their previous phones, except that theirs were wiped clean. The production said these were new phones but I recognized Kokichi's; it was the exact same one he had, so it had to be his old one.

They also gave us all money, around twenty thousand yen each, which wasn't a lot if we wanted to live here for a while. Luckily, the production had given most of them the proper personal necessities, including clothing. Well, to everyone except me. They'd only given me the bare minimum, knowing I would have to go get some stuff back at my uncle's.

"I could maybe go work for my uncle too, to get some money... that is if he wants me back."

The production told me I was allowed to work, knowing the small budget they'd given us wouldnt last forever, but I had to wear a little microphone on my clothes doing so, this way they could hear what I was saying and monitor me. I also couldn't tell anyone else I was working or this would possibly encourage them to do the same thing and "affect their fragile mental health".

I took a deep breath before laying down on my bed.

Exhausted, I slowly drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

[...]

It was Saturday.

I yawned, before sitting up on my bed. I rubbed my eyes and grabbed my phone to check the time.

4:04 AM

"It's this early...?" I mumbled.

I sighed and stood up. Ignoring the pain coursing through my body, and especially where Kaito had punched me, I made my way to my drawers and took out my old clothes, which were the only other clothes I had. Luckily, they had been cleaned.

I held them under my arm and then grabbed my cap, which was sitting on my nightstand, and put it on my head.

Finally, I headed for my door.

I had to go take a shower.

I opened the door and peaked around, making sure no one else was awake. I couldn't bare to face anyone this early in the morning.

Slowly, I made my way out and walked towards the bathroom. When I got there, I closed the door and locked it, sighing.

...

After my shower, I put my clothes on, brushed my teeth and hair, and went back to my room.

I put my other clothes away and grabbed my phone, before heading out again, this time for good.

It was still pretty early, so I figured I should do something before going to visit my uncle.

That's right... I decided to visit him today...

He must have been worried sick. I feel really bad for not telling him about it and leaving without a word.

I quickly headed to the kitchen to get something to eat. The giant fridge was packed to the brim with many different things. I decided to take a simple orange juice box, an apple and a piece of bread, before sitting down at the table.

I ate in silence. The house was completely silent, the others were probably still sleeping and would be for a while. I heard them talk until pretty late in the night.

They were all gathered in the room next to mine and they played lots of games, from truth and dare, to spin the bottle "with no kissies", as Himiko called it, and even tag. I heard them run throughout the entire house like excited children.

I felt happy to know they were doing alright and well enough to do all of this...

But of course, I couldn't help the lump of sadness in my throat.

I just wanted to be their friend.

The friend they made during the game.

That's all I wanted.

...

I shook my head, trying to push away these thoughts. I would definitely find a way to get out of this horrible situation some way or another.I would also find out the secret behind the true purpose of this house and everyone's stolen memories.

As I sat there, deep in thoughts, I suddenly heard floorboards creek. I snapped my head up and quickly jumped from my seat in surprise.

My eyes entered in contact with purple ones.

Those same purple eyes I've grown to like over the last years.

"Shuichi."

His voice was cold, devoid of emotions.

This was so uncharacteristic of him. It was like a completely different person speaking. His eyes were squinted and his mouth formed a straight line.

Unable to look at him any longer, feeling the panic rise up again, I took my trash and headed back to the kitchen to put it in the garbage bag.

But as I turned around to leave, he was right there, standing in front of me.

His eyes stared up directly into mine, piercing through my soul.

"Say Shuichi..."

He grinned. But it wasn't one of his playful grins. It was more of a... threatening grin.

"Are you lying to us? Are you lying to me?"

My blood froze as my stomach did a few backflips. I tried to keep my cool and keep up my little pathetic act.

"No. What's so hard to understand about all of this, huh?" I said with a mocking tone.

"Don't fuck with me, Shuichi Saihara. Tell me everything right now."

His eyes were terrifying.

He looked like he was about to kill me. An overwhelming authority radiated from him.

It was truly fitting of that Ultimate of his.

With all the guts I could pull off, I pushed him away lightly and walked away, directly heading towards the front of door. I readjusted my cap and just as I reached the door, my arm was pulled back violently, making me turn around.

I felt my collar getting grabbed.

"Fuckin' hell Shuichi! Tell me now or I'll make you regret it!" he shouted.

His face was twisted with anger and many other emotions. He was so angry, I'd never seen him so angry, wether it was inside the game or before the game. The closest thing to this face I'd seen was when I lied during the class trials.

Once again, I had to act and lie to his face.

"Are you dumb?! How many time will I have to say it?" I said.

...

I knew Kokichi wouldn't let me go easily... so I had to hit him where it hurts. This way... he wouldn't harass me anymore. He would stay away from me, it was for the best, for both him and I.

"I'm not your friend Kokichi, nor do I want anyone else to be my pathetic friend. You were all mere pawns to me and little toys I enjoyed playing with. I'm being forced to live here like the rest of you, so leave me the fuck alone and accept that I-"

My voice cracked accidentally.

"I don't give a shit about you Kokichi. I never liked you."

His eyes slowly widened as he stood there. Slowly, his grip losened, freeing me.

Then, his face scrunched up in anger. Small glistening tears appeared at the corners of his eyes, intensifying my guilt.

"To think that I ever liked a piece of trash like you Shuichi. How pathetic and laughable of little old me, really!"

He quickly walked away, heading back in the direction of his room.

...

...He liked me?

But his memories...

...

I just stood there, in front of the door, processing what had just happened.

Kokichi confessed to me... for the second time. The first was two weeks before he had to move and the second was now.

He liked me. He liked me, the same way his pre-game self did.

Snapping out of my trance, I quickly headed out of the house and closed the door behind me. Immediately after that, I crumbled to the ground.

Tears slid down my cheeks as guilt overwhelmed me once again, for what seemed like the 20th time this week. I couldn't believe I'd said that. I knew I had to hit him where it hurts, but I shouldn't have said that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh Shuichi you’re so dense


	12. Uncle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi talks with his uncle after almost one month.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kudos and hits, enjoy this chapter!

I stood in front of my uncle's house, staring at the doorbell, anxiety slowly growing into my stomach. I'd calmed down a little from the situation that happened earlier, but my brain still couldn't stop replaying his confession, his face showing eyes filled with tears flashing through my mind.

I took a deep breath as I concentrated. My uncle...

What will he think of me? What should I say? How will he react?

I gulped and raised a hesitant fist, before knocking on the door. It was 7 AM, it was pretty early and I just crossed my fingers that someone was awake. I pulled my cap down as I waited patiently for someone to open. It was quiet for a few seconds before I heard slow footsteps inside the house carefully move towards the door. This could only be one person's footsteps.

The door slowly opened.

"Shuichi?!"

I raised my head, smiling nervously. But before I could even speak, careful arms wrapped around my shoulders.

"Oh my god Shuichi! I can't believe it's you!"

He hugged me like his life depended on it, squeezing me in his arms. I froze for a few seconds, before feeling the warmth of his hug slowly make its way around my body. Feeling the tears coming up again, I threw my arms around him as well.

I don't know how long I stayed there, just hugging my uncle. But it felt so good. It felt so good to just get a hug and feel the warmth of someone's affection.

He slowly pulled away after a few minutes.

"Come in and we'll speak. Your aunt will be so happy to see you, we've both missed you so much."

I smiled warmly.

Then, as I barely stepped inside, my aunt came into view.

"Shuichi!! Oh my god!"

She jumped into my arms, hugging me in a similar way my uncle did. But hers was just a quick hug; she pulled away almost immediately and then she held my shoulders and looked at me.

"I was so worried darling..."

I lowered my gaze, feeling the guilt slowly replace the warm feeling into my stomach.

"I'm so sorry... I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys about it beforehand..."

There was a small silence.

I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I looked up to see my uncle look down at me.

"Let's take a seat and talk."

[...]

So, I basically told them everything that happened, from the moment I went to audition up until I got out of the game. I told them my brain had been manipulated during the game to act like a crazy psychopath; I couldn't possibly tell them that this was all an act, or they would both get suspicious.

"I understand your intentions now." said my uncle.

He sighed.

"When your aunt and I saw your face on television, needless to say we were pretty shocked; after all, you had disappeared two days prior."

My aunt continued: "We were extremely worried you were going to die in real life too, since this is apparently an extreme simulation!"

"I know, but I'm fine, I tell you. My body aches a little but other than that I feel totally fine, you don't have to worry about me." I said with a smile.

"Let us worry about you boy! We haven't seen you in a month!" said my uncle.

I chuckled lightly.

"Oh! And where are you living at the moment? Are you at this Danganronpa Team or something's headquarters?" asked my aunt.

"Well, they've put the whole cast including myself into a mansion free of charge for a few months until we all get better."

"Phew, I was worried you had been living on the streets for the past few days." said my uncle, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Oh no, definitely not." I said with a small smile.

They both smiled at me, relief in their eyes. I gave them back the warmest smile I could probably pull off.

"So- you have to stay in that house for a little longer, right?" asked my uncle.

"Yeah and- Oh right... I-I needed to ask you about something related to that." I said nervously, breaking eye contact to look down at my fingers.

"Of course."

"Uhm-"

I smiled nervously.

"Is it okay if I help you with detective work, but in a more uh... offical way? I really... miss working with you two and the production doesn't give us money for food and other basic necessities, so I'd really need the extra money- it's okay though if-" My uncle cut me off. "Yes! Of course you can!"

He smiled, a wide happy grin on his face.

"I was actually about to ask you if you wanted to continue helping me! The guys at work were totally impressed by your detective work in that game and they all really want to see you back there again."

I smiled, feeling the comfortable warmth slowly return in my stomach.

"Thank you so much uncle. I'll make sure not to disappoint you and the other guys."

"I'm sure you won't! Oh!"

My uncle's eyes widened a little as his eyes landed on the watch around his wrist.

"I need to get to work in a few minutes, crap!" He quickly stood up and started to fiddle with his tie.

My aunt and I both laughed as he almost tripped trying to put his shoes on.

"Send me your resume later Shuichi, alright?" he shouted from the entrance as he opened the door.

"Okay!"

He waved at both my aunt and I and slammed the door behind him.

"Your uncle will really appreciate the extra help, it's really nice of you to offer yourself Shuichi."

"Oh it's totally fine, besides, I really enjoy this type of work."

"Of course you do, you haven't changed much did you?" she laughed.

I smiled. She smiled softly and then sighed.

"There's been more and more cases recently and we're all really exhausted, so your help is a godsend."

"Really...? Why is that?" I asked.

"There's been a lot of robberies, small and big, lots of couples breaking up, but a lot of vandalism also took place. And to top it off... there were a lot of murders as well."

I gulped.

"These are probably the most time consuming ones. And they just keep on coming one after the other; that's why we will accept any kind of help."

"Don't worry auntie, I'll try my best to help you all. ...But I was wondering: is it possible for me to do some of the work from the mansion...?"

"Of course, it must be a long ride from there right?"

I nodded.

"Yeah... it's a pretty long train ride."

"This would be possible, but you'd probably have to come in at least one day per weekend or two, to get new files to work on, or give your feedback. We'll try to give you the jobs that require the less moving around too."

I nodded.

"I have no problem with that. And thank you."

"It's okay, really! Oh, I should probably get going too; I have a lot of work waiting for me too." She stood up and I did the same.

"Before you leave auntie, I'll just go get my personal stuff to bring back to the mansion, if that's okay." I said as she was putting her coat on.

"Of course!"

I quickly hurried to my room. I grabbed the large suitcase sitting in the corner of my room and stuffed in as many clothes as I could. I also got my laptop and other things I'd probably need and quickly left the room.

"Okay, I think I have everything, thank you so much."

"You don't have to thank me Shu, you live here and you're welcome back here anytime you need it."

I smiled.

"Thanks again auntie. You're the best."

She chuckled warmly at the compliment as she closed the door to the apartment and locked it after I got out.

She made her way to her car, waving goodbye at me.

I waved back and watched her drive away before sighing.

"Well, that went pleasingly well... Now I have to go back there..."

[...]

It was around 9:30 AM when I came back.

I stood in front of the house, staring at the door. If I'm lucky, most of them will be tending to their occupations at this hour and I will be able to make my way back to my room without any problems.

I turned the knob as silently as I could, to not bring any attention, and pushed the door open. I entered the house and closed the door behind me.

I slowly made my way down the hallway, careful not to trip on the multiple pair of shoes lined against the wall. I removed my own pair and took it in my hand to bring back with me.

I yawned as I reached the kitchen.

And of course, luck wasn't on my side today.

All of them were sitting at the table. A huge breakfast was laid out on it. It was a traditional american breakfast, with eggs, fried potatoes, bacon and many more stuff that smelled absolutely delightful.

I was snapped back to reality when I realized they were all staring at me.

I quickly put my head down and hurried past the kitchen, into the rooms hallway. When I got to my room, I slammed the door behind me.

[...]

NARRATOR POV

"What the hell was he doing outside the house?" asked Kaito.

The table had been silent for a few seconds after Shuichi had ran to his room.

"It's weird, I was up at exactly 6:15 this morning to do a little cleaning in the kitchen and I never saw him." said Kirumi.

"That's because the bastard was up at 4 AM this morning." said Kokichi.

"Oh? How do you know that huh?" asked Tenko.

"Well, I heard something downstairs at around 4:30 and he was in the kitchen, eating shit or whatever."

"You're not lying to us right?" asked Keebo.

"Pshhh, Keebo doesn't trust me! Do you want to make me cry?" said the purple haired boy, shedding crocodile tears.

"Shut up ya little abortion!" said Miu.

"I just know miss cum dumpster isn't talking right now~."

Everyone collectively eye rolled as the two continued bickering.

"Shut up right now or I'm going to kill both of you." said Maki.

"Eek!"

"I'm scared, oh no!" said Kokichi mockingly.

Maki sighed.

"Do you have any idea where he went...?" asked Kaede calmly, with a hint of curiosity in her voice.

"Not a clue, and I don't give a shit. He can go die in a ditch for all I care."

"K-kokichi! Don't say that, that's very mean!" shouted Gonta.

Kokichi rolled his eyes. The rest of the table remained silent for a few seconds, before Kaito stood up.

"Hey! Weren't we supposed to assign chores this morning?" he asked, changing the subject and breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Oh you're right." said Himiko.

They proceeded to list a number of chores that were needed to do in the house. Doing the laundry, washing the dishes, setting the table, making food, cleaning the house, taking care of the flowers and plants in the backyard and buying the groceries.

This is how they separated those tasks;

\- Laundry: Tsumugi and Ryoma

\- Dishes: Angie and Korekiyo

\- Table: Himiko

\- Food: Kirumi and Rantaro

\- Cleaning: Kokichi, Kaito, Maki and Kaede

\- Flowers: Gonta and Miu

\- Groceries: Keebo and Tenko

"I promise I will buy only the best food for everyone! I want you all to be healthy!" said Keebo with a smile.

"Keeboooooo, can you buy me candy pwetty pwease?~" Kokichi cooed, with puppy eyes.

Keebo let out an uncomfortable sigh as he backed away from Kokichi.

"Y-Yeah I will."

"Thanks!" The short boy's mood had done a complete 180.

"So, we're all set? Everybody is okay with their assigned chore?" asked Kirumi.

Everyone nodded.

[...]

SHUICHI POV

I sat down at my desk and sighed. I rubbed my eyes swollen from fatigue and opened my laptop, the bright white and blue background flashing in my eyes. I quickly entered my password and accessed my files.

The first thing I did was delete everything I could find about Danganronpa. It made me sick to even think about the show now. I guess, in some way, I've achieved the goal I had aimed for when I stupidly auditioned for the game.

Then, I immediately got to update my resume. I had already made one a while ago when I applied for this job at a small corner store when I was 16. I'd worked there for only around 2 months before I got sick of my useless lazy coworkers.

I sent an email to my uncle immediately, with my updated resume. I'd added my Danganronpa detective experience and the few couple cases I'd helped with in the last few years.

After that was done, I stretched my arms and leaned back on my chair.

I felt my eyelids getting heavy and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.


	13. Hajime Hinata

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SDR2 SPOILERS!!
> 
> Shuichi reaches out to a certain man for help and goes to his uncle’s workplace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since you guys were being extra nice in the comments I decided to update a second chapter for today! :) My draft document is 40k words long and I’ve only posted half of it on here so far, so I have plenty of chapters all ready to post!!

I woke up to a loud thump.

It came from outside the house. I slowly stood up and walked to my window, which had a view on the backyard.

I rubbed my tired eyes as my vision slowly cleared itself. Outside, I saw Maki, Miu, Kirumi, Keebo and Gonta.

Miu and Gonta were laughing their asses off and the rest looked either disappointed or panicked (that was Keebo).

Not far away from them, there was the tennis net, scattered on the ground messily. I heard giggles coming from a little further away, one giggle in particular standing out from the others.

"Kokichi why'd you do that?! What if it's broken now?!" shouted Kaito.

"Nahhh, look at it! It's perfectly fine!~" he giggled. Ryoma spoke next. "These nets are extremely solid so they won't rip from just falling from a couple meters."

From what I understood, Kokichi, instead of going through the house to bring the net to the backyard, had instead thrown the thing all the way up from the training room, through the window, where it was stored.

I smirked, slightly amused by all their funny antics. It felt nice to see them having harmless fun like this; inside the game, all the activities we would do felt forced and restrained.

I sighed. It's just a shame I couldn't participate...

I shook my head, trying to keep the negativity out. I had to be happy for them, not feel miserable.

I yawned and sat back at my desk. My back was killing me, after taking a nap in such an uncomfortable position. I reopened my laptop.

"Wow, I slept for a while..."

It was almost 2 PM; I'd slept for almost 6 hours.

I decided I would do some research on the other Danganronpa houses. It was all suspicious, this whole "get better" thing; why would they even put us in a house like this, for the sole reason of trying to make us feel better?

I remember what the man told me. He said he didn't care about our cast and that we ruined it. So why would he do this for us...? It can't be for the sole reason of his little game with me; he wouldn't just spend so much money only for that.

Quickly, I came across a link. It was linked to a social media account.

"Hajime Hinata/Izuru Kamukura, Mastermind of the 52nd killing game."

His account had a large following; it was to be expected of course. I also remembered him from the last season; he was accidentally the Mastermind without even realizing it himself. I remember his reaction to discovering about that alternative identity of his. I can somewhat relate to him in a way.

His social media was mainly floaded with pictures of him and the other members of his cast and even previous casts. From what I could tell, they looked all pretty close to each other.

I took a deep breath and nervously clicked the "Contact" option under his profile.

I also gained an immense following after the last game so I hoped he would see my message through all the fanmail he probably gets.

"Hello Mr. Hinata.

I am Shuichi Saihara, and I was a participant of the 53rd killing game. If possible, could we arrange a meeting? I have a few questions concerning what you may or may not know about Team Danganronpa...

Thank you for taking some of your precious time to read this message.

Have a nice day!"

I read over my message before I sent it. I at least hoped he would consider my request.

After that, I opened my emails and to my pleasant suprise, my uncle had answered me. He told me to come by tomorrow at the office to sign some papers and so that he could also give me a few weeks worth of cases to look through. He told me my salary would be based off the number of hours I'd spend working at home and finally, he also told me he trusted me enough to tell him the right amount of hours.

I smiled and answered him that I would come by tomorrow as early as I could.

[...]

A few hours later, after I'd done nothing but read random things online and stuff, a message popped up on my social media account.

I was surprised to see that it was Hajime's response.

"Hey! Of course I can answer your questions, you deserve to know more about these bastards. When and where do you want to meet up?"

I smiled at the kind and warm answer.

"Thanks for answering! :) Is tomorrow okay for you? I can also go to yours, after all, I'm the one asking."

The answer was almost immediate.

"You don't have to thank me y'know? And yeah tomorrow's good for me. Let's say 2 PM, is it okay for you?"

"Yup! All good for me. Oh, and I have to mention something before I can talk to you..."

I discretely looked at the camera in my room. It was in a corner of the wall my desk was against, therefore it couldn't see my screen, but it could see my face.

"What is it?"

"I'm being audio monitored by the Team every time I have to go out... so whatever confidential or things that could be risky to know, could you please write them on paper? If you want to of course..."

"Yeah sure I can definitely do that... but audio monitored?! Even Nagito, our main antagonist, wasn't monitored at all after we got out of the simulation."

"It's a long story... I'll let you know about it once we meet up. :)"

"All good! Well, see ya tomorrow!"

"Goodbye!"

I closed the discussion chat and closed my laptop after. I just now realize how exhausted I really feel.

I looked at my watch and saw the time; 7:30 PM. My stomach started growling, as if on cue.

"That's right, I almost didn't eat at all today..."

I stood up and stretched my entire body. My legs were sore from sitting at that desk the entire day.

I quickly got a change of clothes, going from my suit to a black and blue striped t-shirt and ripped navy jeans. I topped it off with my cap, of course.

I then slowly headed towards my door and opened it. I peaked outside, as usual, making sure no one was around.

I heard multiple voices coming from a bedroom at the back of the corridor, which probably belonged to the girls. I made my way down the hall to the stairway and went down to the kitchen.

Luckily, no one was in the kitchen. I was hearing multiple voices coming from the living room, but also from the labs' part of the house.

I opened the fridge, only to find it extremely empty. It was packed this morning, but now, only a few leftovers remained, along with a carton of milk and an orange juice bottle.

"They're probably going to need to go to the groceries a few times a week at this rate..."

Our money wouldn't last forever, so that's why I had to get to work really fast.

I quickly poured myself a glass of milk and looked at the leftovers.

"They would probably not want me to take these..."

I grabbed myself a banana and an orange and slowly headed back to my room.

I ate my food in silence at my desk. When I was done, I was still hungry, but I chose to ignore it.

"I should buy my own food. That would make it less complicated..."

I yawned and stood up. I quickly removed my pants and slid on joggings, before throwing myself onto my bed.

It didn't take me long to pass out.

[...]

I nervously fiddled with my tie as I sat in my train seat.

I had chosen to wear just a simple dress shirt today, along with a black tie, formal black pants and my trusty cap. I'd brought a small backpack as well, to store my case files in.

Finally, the train came to a halt. I got off and got out from the subterranean station. The office was pretty close from here, so I got there in no time. The old familiar building stood there in front of me, almost welcoming me with open arms.

I stood in front of the door and slowly knocked. A few seconds later, the door opened.

"Who is it- Oh! Shuichi!"

It was a short round man who'd answered me. I recognized him; he was one of my uncle's closest friend. He was the one taking care of the communications between the detective office and the police station.

(A/N: Please don't assassinate me if I'm wrong about detective business. I'm completely making all of this up.)

"It's nice to see you! It's been a while." the man said.

"Yes indeed." I giggled. "It's nice to see you too Mr. Sero. How are you doing?"

"Good good, a little tired though! We're constantly getting new work lately and we barely have any break at all!" he laughed.

"Ah, yes I'm aware, aunt Saisha told me about that. Hopefully I can help."

"I'm sure you will! You were awesome in that show, although you better not pull up one of those twists like you did at the end."

I laughed nervously. "Of course not, I will never do that again."

"Good to know! Now now, your uncle's waiting for you so shoo!" He pushed me towards the small staircase that led to the upper floor and the multiple offices.

I slowly climbed it, my footsteps resonating in the silence of the agency. When I finally got to the second floor, I passed all the other offices, which belonged to my aunt's and the three other detectives working with my uncle, and got to my uncle's office, which was at the end of the hallway.

I knocked. A voice immediately shouted at me to come in.

"Hey uncle." I said as I got in the room.

"Shuichi! You're early; I didn't expect you until around noon."

"Ah yes, I decided to come a little earlier because I'm meeting with someone else this afternoon."

"Oh?"

He grinned.

"Are you finally going to get a girlfriend?! Or even a boyfriend?!"

I felt the heat rush to my cheeks.

"H-huh?! No no, of course not!" I giggled nervously. "It's just a friend."

He pouted. "Aw, that's a shame."

He laughed a little as I tried to calm down my flushing cheeks.

He immediately got me to sign multiple papers and other stuff. He told me many rules about detective work, which I knew most of, and he gave me the contact info of everyone that could potentially help me with cases.

He also gave me a badge. It had the word "Detective" engraved at the bottom, and "Private" engraved at the top. The metal shone under the light, it was really nice looking. I felt proud, in a way, to have this.

He also gave me an ID, with my name and photo on it.

"And finally..."

He dropped a big pile of cases in front of me.

"Here's something to keep you occupied for a while."

"All of this...?" I said, baffled at the number of different beige folders. When they said the cases had been piling up considerably, he didn't expect it to be that much.

"Yeah, I've given you a few weeks worth of work so you don't have to come back here every weekend; it must be exhausting going back and forth."

As if on cue, I felt a yawn coming up. My uncle laughed.

"See, I'm always right!"

I rolled my eyes, smirking, as he continued laughing.

"These are all little cases, since we're not allowed to give those big murder cases to Apprentices. These are okay with you, right?"

"Of course. I don't mind at all."

"Great! I think we covered everything."

My uncle stood up and put his hand out in front of me.

Hesitantly, I stood up and grabbed it. He shook it pretty violently.

"Come on now Shuichi, put more energy into it! You're going to have to give loads of handshakes like this in the future so you've gotta get used to it!" he said with a playful smile.

I smiled, amused, and shook it again.

"There you go, that was good!"

He laughed, making me giggle too.

"Well, do you have any questions before I let you go?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"Great! But don't hesitate to ask for my help Shuichi if you need it. I know you're probably not feeling the best lately, with the game, so don't push yourself too hard alright?"

I nodded.

"I'll try."

My uncle gave me a serious look.

"Shuichi..."

"I promise I won't overdo it uncle... I'll probably work in my free time and on weekends, is it okay?"

"Yes, that's okay, but what I mean is; don't neglect your health and well-being for this alright?"

"Yes, I understand."

"Thank you Shuichi. You're free to go now."

I smiled at him. I grabbed my backpack filled with cases and papers and swung it on my back.

"See ya later uncle!"

"Bye Shuichi! Take care!"


	14. The Horrible Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi visits Class 77, better known as the 52nd season’s cast members (Rantaro being an older participant is all fiction in this AU).
> 
> Hey besties sorry for the wait, hope you guys still enjoy!

I carried the heavy backpack on my way back to the house from the station.

My back was hurting me so bad, my entire body was aching more and more with every step I took. My uncle was right, I should really relax a little more, especially with the poor condition I'm in right now.

The house finally came into view. I felt like I was going to pass out any minute now, with the hot spring sun shining down on me.

I climbed the front porch with slight difficulty and pushed the door open. I just needed to get to my bed.

I passed through the kitchen. It was noon, so obviously, everyone was here again. I didn't even care anymore about wether or not they were looking at me; I just wanted to get to my room as fast as possible.

I heard voices calling out my name too. That was a first.

I stopped for a second and looked at who had called my name. I felt really weak and I really didn't have enough energy to put up my little act right now.

"Where were you."

Huh? Why'd Kaito asked me that? I thought he hated me.

"No...nowhere."

I wanted it to come off as rude but instead, it came out as almost a whisper. I just now realized how much I was sweating and how weird I must look like.

There was a little silence so I decided to continue making my way to my room. I successfully got there without being called out again.

I closed my door, not bothering to lock it, threw myself on my bed after throwing my bag filled with files on the floor and fell asleep.

[...]

I woke up to an alarm. My eyes fluttered open as I set my eyes on my wristwatch.

1:45 PM.

"Shit!"

I got up quickly. I was going to be late to meet Hajime.

I quickly undressed from my sweaty clothes and choose other proper clothes. I opted for a simple navy turtleneck and black pants before I headed out, grabbing my phone and emptied backpack on the way out.

I ran through the hallways and down the stairs. I flew past the kitchen, where I saw a few people, and headed straight to the door.

I got out and ran for my life.

He was living a few blocks away from here, and it was a 20 minutes walk, according to Google.

But it was 1:50 right now.

I cursed myself for falling asleep, picking up a faster pace. I ran for a few minutes before I started to feel tired. I'm definitely out of shape, that's for sure.

But I made it, I arrived on time.

I took the time to catch my breath, before looking at the house in front of me.

It was gigantic, even bigger than ours. But it had a similar look and appearance, so this was definitely the house Team Danganronpa got them.

I walked down the small pathway, looking around me. The trees were neatly chopped into perfect squares, dozens of flower beds rested on the bright green grass. The entire scenery was ultimately beautiful.

I finally got to the door. Taking a deep breath, I knocked.

I replaced my clothes and my cap as I heard footsteps coming.

The door opened to reveal a tall white haired man. His eyes widened slightly and he smiled.

"Oh! You must be Shuichi! Nice to meet you, I'm Nagito Komaeda!"

I knew him. He was the antagonist of the last season; he was also named best antagonist a few months ago in a poll made by Team Danganronpa.

"I-It's nice to meet you sir."

"You don't have to call me sir, I'm not that old you know!" he said, almost offended. Then, he sighed. "But you do you, you're such an amazing detective, I could never tell you what to do."

"Ah, u-uh, okay!"

He huffed before opening the door all the way.

"Come in. We've been expecting you!"

[...]

He led me down an hallway, that directly ended up in a large living room.

There were a lot of people; in fact, I think the whole cast was there. The suppressed fanboy in me was extremely excited to see all of them in the same room but most of me was anxious from the number of people that had their eyes on me.

"Oh hey there!"

A tall brown haired man, which I'd recognized to be Hajime, walked up to me.

"It's nice to meet you, Shuichi!" he said with a smile.

I smiled back.

"Likewise."

"You didn't get lost did you? You look like you ran a marathon dude!" said a pink haired guy. That was Kazuichi Soda, the Ultimate Mechanic.

"No no, I just fell asleep before coming here and I woke up last minute so I had to run."

"I totally understand; when I got out of that simulation too, I was constantly tired." said Hajime.

He led me to a chair and he sat down on another one himself. Most of the others were sitting on the sofas.

"Oh! And here are the photos you asked me! You know, screenshots from the show."

I was confused for a second as he handed me a file. Then, I realized what he meant. I quickly responded to his act.

"Thank you so much! I couldn't bring myself to watch the show but I still wanted to keep souvenirs of some moments so I can really thank you for that."

"No problem, don't worry about it."

He grinned and gave me a thumbs up. I couldn't help but smile back. That was really smart of him.

[...]

Overall, the meeting went well.

I asked him about the houses and what they did after the game. Like us, they had to finish their school year, taught by a private teacher that came to their house every day for 2 months from 8 AM to 2 PM. They had been staying in this house for two years now; ever since they left the simulation. They were also never forced to live there, exactly as I thought.

They all had jobs now, Hajime and Nagito are both doctors, Mikan is a nurse, Sonia is the owner of a successful clothing line, Chiaki's a well-known streamer and youtuber, Kazuichi owns a mechanic shop, Gundham is a veterinarian, Peko, along with Mahiru and the Ultimate Imposter were all teachers, Akane and Nekomaru owned a gym, Hiyoko was a professional dancer, Teruteru owned a fancy restaurant and finally, Ibuki is part of a music band.

I continued talking with them for a while, they asked me questions about the game, but they were mostly curious about my... true identity.

"So... do you have like a split personality?" asked Mahiru.

I shook my head.

"No... they messed with my brain to make me act like a deranged psychopath like this, and then when I woke up, I reverted back to my normal personality."

"That's weird. So is this... your in-game personality or pre-game?" asked the Imposter.

"Both. My pre-game personality is the same as the seemingly "fake" one you saw on television, they kept the same for some reason."

"Gosh, I hate these guys. I'm glad we're free from them." said Hajime.

Multiple nods of agreement came from the others. I also nodded, feeling my breathing getting stuck in my throat for a quick moment. "Yeah... free." Then, Hajime lifted up a piece of paper towards me, gesturing me to read it in silence.

It was written something on it.

"Everything about what happened to our personalities and memories is in the file." I read in my head.

I nodded and he put the paper away.

Shortly after, it was time for me to leave. It was almost 6 after all; they had to make dinner and I was also hungry as hell; I'd neglected both breakfast and lunch today.

They invited me to come back anytime, which I'd found super nice. I said my goodbyes to all of them and left.

I slowly made my way back home, holding the file in my arms.

I decided to open it now, to avoid suspicions from the cameras back at the house.

Of course, Hajime had put actual screenshots from the show with the other files. He was pretty smart, to be honest, and I'm glad he really took it to heart to help me. The photos included moments from my free time with Kokichi, Kaito, Maki and Kaede. I smiled before putting them back in the file.

I got out a small document with the words "Memories" written on it.

...

Basically, when they got out, they only had their in-game memories and their made up memories. But just a few days later, they were given back their memories by Team Danganronpa. It didn't affect their personalities at all apparently; after all, the in game personas were "improved" versions of their real life personalities. Their memories still showed what their personality used to be like though. For example, Hajime used to be pretty cold and didn't talk to anyone much. His in-game personality was improved to have better social skills and for him to have more emotions. Also, all pre-game skills they had returned as well, mixing with their in-game skills.

They also kept their valuable talents, which I'd guessed before from hearing about their occupations. It was nice to know; I couldn't imagine how Kaito would feel like if he couldn't be an astronaut anymore. Or even if Kaede couldn't play the piano anymore.

Well... all of this confirms some of my suspicions.

I pulled out the other and last document. It was titled "Secret information".

It was many things about the Team that they had all learned over the years. They had apparently kidnapped people to participate in the game over the last few years, but when they do, they remove those memories from the victim's brain complete and never return them. This had happened to Nagito; he was kidnapped right in front of his parents, without the production even noticing said parents. When he met back up with them, they told him what they'd seen; needless to say poor Nagito must have been pretty shocked to learn he was forced into this killing game. Hajime and the others chose to keep it a secret, scared of what Team Danganronpa would do if they ever found out they knew about that.

"I can't believe this..." I thought.

I felt the anger build up inside of me. I put the document back in the folder, unable to read more for now.

The kidnapping.. what if it had happened to one of us? I couldn't be me of course... but it could have been someone else...

More thoughts swirled in my head until I finally arrived home. I heard loads of voices coming from the backyard so I assumed they were either playing tennis or swimming in the pool.

I got inside and, as I thought, no one was there. A soft lingering chicken aroma indicated me that they had probably finished eating only a few minutes ago.

I headed directly towards the kitchen instead of my room. I opened the fridge, which was now filled again with tons of food; they'd probably gone grocery shopping today. I poured myself a glass of milk and pondered on what to eat. I had three choices; instant ramen, leftovers or some eggs.

Leftovers were out of question and instant ramen would definitely not be enough. I grabbed the eggs and pulled out a pan from one of the cupboards. I then cooked myself half a dozen eggs; I was terribly hungry and my stomach was almost eating itself at this point.

Seeing as there's no one around, I decided to sit at the table to eat. It didn't take me long to finish my plate and I felt pretty stuffed afterward. But it felt great to finally eat something good and nutritious.

I went back to the kitchen to wash everything I'd used, but as I left the kitchen to go back to my room, I came face to face with...

Kokichi.

...

Of course, out of all people I had to end up facing again alone, it was Kokichi. He frowned, seeing me walk out.

"Get out of my way, Shuichi."

He spat out my name like poison. I lowered my head and just walked past him.

"What's your deal anyway? Why the fuck are you so antisocial and not messing with us like you had no problem doing in the game?"

His words pierced right through my heart.

"That's not... that's not your business." I tried to say, as coldly as I could.

I heard a little snicker.

"Yeah, totally not my business that you messed with everyone's feelings, including mine, and then act like you did nothing wrong."

I felt my heart squeeze and a lump build up in my throat. The tears came up again and my lips started trembling as I thought about all I did back in the game. It was true... I did mess with their feelings. I shouldn't have acted like my actual self; I should have just stayed away from them like I'm doing now, it would have been so much better.

I'm lucky I was facing away from him, or he would have seen the single tear slide down my cheek.

"I just..."

He let out a sigh.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive you for this. And trust me, I forgive people veryyy easily!~"

I gulped.

"Leave me alone." I blurted out, trying my best to keep my voice neutral.

"Gladly. Don't worry, neither me or anyone else has any intention to talk to you either anytime soon so you can be sure you're going to be alone."

I started walking again towards my room. I was on the verge of sobbing again and my vision was all blurry. When I got there, I locked the door behind me and threw myself on my bed.

I buried my head in and starting sobbing uncontrollably. I didn't even care if it was loud or anything, I didn't even care about anything anymore.

He should have just killed me.

That bastard should have just ended my pathetic life after I got out of the game, this way, I wouldn't have to suffer like this and he would have given my parents the despair he wanted so bad. Oh yeah right, my parents left me, they wouldn't even care if I died.

I don't know how long I stayed in bed, crying endless tears into my pillow and arms. But it felt really good to just... let out all of these emotions I've been bottling up, completely.

I lifted my head from my pillow and sniffed. My eyes met with the small mirror hanging from the wall, beside my wardrobe. My eyes were puffy, my face was stained with tears and my hair was a complete mess.

I took a deep breath.

Then, a second one. And a third one.

I already felt calmer.

I stood up from my bed and took my hairtie sitting on my nightstand. I grabbed all of my hair, which had gotten pretty long over the last month, and pulled it back into a small ponytail. Strands of shorter hairs fell back on my face after I was done, but at least most of it was out of view.

As I was changing myself out of my turtleneck, my mind went back to what Kokichi said earlier. "Don't worry, neither me or anyone else has any intention to talk to you either anytime soon so you can be sure you're going to be alone." I felt sadness weight on my shoulders again.

But I shouldn't feel sad... after all, they're doing exactly what I want them to do. They're avoiding me, and that's for the best.

I will do my best to help them on my own and find out the truth behind all of this mess.

[...]

It's been a few days.

5 days, to be exact; it's Friday today.

The whole week, a different teacher came everyday from 8 to 2 to teach us a particular subject. We were all gathered at the kitchen table and had to listen to their lectures all day long, only getting a small lunch break. More than often, many people got impatient and tried to leave; that mostly included Miu, Kaito, Angie and Ryoma. Kokichi also did it on Monday, but no one noticed until a few minutes later, because of how sneaky he was doing it.

As for me... I just stayed at the far back of the table, listening without asking any questions and basically making myself invisible. Kokichi was right; no one talked to me anymore when I was with them. When I came down to get dinner and lunch, they just stared at me going into the kitchen, not saying a word. I gradually got used to this, telling myself that it would get better one day.

One day.

...

As for my detective work, it was going pretty well.

I'd solved three whole cases this week. One that was about a small robbery in a bakery, another was about a break-in and the last one about a cheating couple situation. They were... exceptionally easy. Everything was so obvious and clear to understand and determine. Maybe the game did also have some effect on my detective skills.

I was just now finishing up my fourth, writing a report to send to Mr. Sero for him to send to the police. It was almost 7 PM, I'd been working on this for 5 hours straight.

I yawned, sending in my report and closing my laptop. I stretched my arms and legs and got up, grabbing my cap and twisting it onto my head.

I'd kept the ponytail look for the last few days, it was pretty nice. It still allowed me to keep my bangs while also having my neck free from all of my long hair.

I opened my door and headed to the kitchen to get myself some food. My stomach was craving for some spaghetti, after smelling the delicious aroma floating in the air yesterday night. They had been trying out quite a lot of foreign dishes recently, and spaghetti was one of those. And gosh was it tempting.

Nobody was home tonight; they'd all gotten permission from the Team to go to a café for dinner. They have been gone for a little less than an hour now, so I still had the house for a few more hours.

With a smile on my face, I got out the pasta from the pantry and boiled some hot water. Cooking pasta was quite easy really, my mom used to cook that pretty often when... when I still lived with them.

I took a deep breath as the memories came floading in my mind. I shook my head lightly. "No no I can't be sad tonight. Not when I can finally eat a proper meal."

I cooked the meat sauce and then made myself a plate. I had done a good amount of it, so I put the leftovers in a plastic container and stored it in the fridge. Hopefully someone would eat the rest.

I sat at the table and ate my spaghetti. When I was done, I felt really good. It tasted exactly like how I expected, it was delicious.

I washed my dishes and as I went back to my room, my eyes suddenly laid on the piano in the living room. It was against the wall of the living room and I could see it from the hallway leading to the stairs.

It's been a while since I played the piano.

"Maybe I could play a little... no one would notice either, they're all out." I walked over to the living room, which I never even got the occasion to use once since I came here, and walked over to the piano.

Multiple piano sheets were scattered on the small table next to it. These were all high difficulty piano pieces; I knew how to play some of them but I wasn't quite able to do them entirely. When I spent my free time with Kaede, she did show me useful tricks she was using when she talked about her concerts... I just wish she could have told me more about all of her shows. I knew it was all fake memories but still, it was nice talking with her.

I didn't dare mess around with her music sheets and just sat down at the piano, opening the heavy lid and placing my hands over the keyboard. I closed my eyes, thinking of something I could play.

My first thought was... Clair de Lune.

It was a good warm up but... it reminded me of the game. I decided to choose another one. I settled on Beethoven's Ode to Joy, one of the first pieces I'd mastered successfully.

My hands automatically placed themselves on the beginning keys and, as if controlled by my thoughts, I began playing.

My fingers danced across the keyboard, controlled by my thoughts. Even after having not playing for months, I didn't feel like I'd lost any of the muscle memory I'd acquired over my life. My body felt 50 pounds lighter and it almost felt like I was floating, as the sweet melody coming from the piano danced around my ears. It felt amazing, it was almost euphoric; like I was on a completely different planet.

After a few minutes, I finally came to the end of the piece. I sighed, feeling my senses come back to me. I remembered why I enjoyed played the piano so much; it was so relaxing, it felt like I was on a cloud.

I decided to play another one, but this time, the piece was a little harder. This was Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu, a piece I'd always wanted to play since I was a little kid. My mom used to play it a lot, but it was a complicated piece, so she never got to teach it to me. I learned to play it when I was 15, I was struggling at that time, but I never gave up and ended up successfully playing it correctly when I turned 17. I remember that day; Kokichi was there, as my well as my uncle and aunt, to celebrate my birthday.

I put my hands back on the keyboard and started playing.

The first part was one of the hardest and I couldn't afford to get lost into my thoughts like I did with the last one.

My hands flew on the keyboard, controlled by my brain. It was hard doing it without any music sheet, but I'd have to work with what I could remember. I did play it almost everyday for two years, so it was pretty much burned into my memory. I missed a few notes, but I was overall proud I'd remembered most of it by heart.

Then, the slower part came. It was soothing and relaxing and I fell back on the cloud Ode to Joy put me on earlier. I definitely needed to come play the piano more often, if only I could do that...

I took a deep breath as the last part of the piece came. Like the first part, it was fast and very quick. Controlled by muscle memory, my fingers once again danced on the large keyboard. And finally, I pressed the final notes, ending the piece.

I sighed, putting my hands on my thighs, arching my back backward to stretch my shoulders. I hesitated on playing another piece, but I decided against it after looking at the time and seeing how late it was. I had to start this new case about an old building burning down.

I stood up from the stool and when I turned around to leave, I was met with the biggest shock.

Maki, Kaito, Kokichi and Kaede stood there, watching me with wide eyes. They were holding mops and buckets of soapy water, completely frozen into place, almost like statues.


	15. Mistake

I jumped a little.

I didn't expect that at all. I thought they were still at that café place.

"Uhhh, what were you doing Shuichi...?" asked Kaito.

I forced a frown on my face and just started walking past them, shoving my hands into my pockets. I felt their stares on me and also felt a hand try to place itself on my shoulder, but failed.

"Shuichi... You didn't tell me you played the piano..."

Kaede's soft voice forced me to turn around to face her. She was staring at the floor, a sad frown on her face.

"Yeah... It was an old hobby of mine." I said before I quickly walked away. I walked back to my room without looking at them, ignoring Kaede's calls, and slammed the door behind me.

...

'Oh no no no no no'

I had messed up real bad.

I grabbed my head with my hands. The man would definitely not be happy with this. Not only did they discover about my old hobby but I had actually said something relatively nice back to Kaede.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.

'Hopefully he doesn't do anything...'

[...]

Another entire week passed, without hearing a word from the Team. This week was pretty uneventful; except for the fact that I'd been working more than usual.

We are all running out of money very quick. I've been sneaking around to listen to their conversations when they spoke in the kitchen and they've been saying they only have about thirty thousend yen left. The generous amount of food Keebo and Tenko had to buy for everyone was eating up all of the budget. Gonta and Miu had also caught a cold last weekend after it had suddenly started to rain when they were tending to the garden, so they had to spend money on a med kit and other pills for them to take.

But today was the day I would receive my paycheck. It was Friday, which was payday for my uncle's agency. I'd worked 70 hours in the last two weeks so luckily I would get a good amount of money.

I finished up a case and opened a document to start writing the report. I yawned and stretched my entire body, getting up right after.

I looked at the pile of beige folders as I changed myself out of my usual dress shirt and navy suit. There was only two cases left for me to do, including the one I was finishing, so I was hoping to go back to my uncle's apartment to give them all back to him this weekend. Needless to say he was impressed by the reports I had sent Sero; it made me happy to know he was satisfied with my work. The cases were pretty boring and repetitive but if it helped my uncle, I didn't mind at all.

I put on a black hoodie and jeans, grabbed my cap and a mask, and headed out of my room. It was Friday night and I wanted to go get some food at a restaurant for once, but I had to wear a mask because I didn't want people to recognize me, like what happened in the train station the first time I went out in public. It was a disaster, people were begging me for autographs and pictures and it was super overwhelming.

When I passed through the kitchen to go to the front door, everyone was sitting at the table, eating as usual. But I noticed how there was much less food on the table today.

My eyes met with Kaede's as I scanned the table.

She weakly smiled at me. I felt my eyes widen from surprise. This was the first time someone's smiled at me in the house...

"Shuichi?"

I turned to face who had called me. It was Kirumi. She had a neutral look on her face and she held a two thousand yen bill in her hand.

"If it's not too much to ask, could you please buy some sleeping pills on your way back...?"

She had a hopeful face mixed with worry as she stared at me, waiting for my answer.

I just turned around and headed to the exit, not saying a word. I couldn't take their money for this, I would simply use mine instead. As I walked towards the exit, I heard her sigh.

"What a fuckin' jackass!" shouted Miu.

"Give it up Kirumom! He's totally never going to want to be our friend." said Tenko.

"Yeah, you shouldn't put your focus on him like that." said Rantaro.

"Shuichi isn't who we used to know, unfortunately." stated Korekiyo.

I opened the door and left, slamming it harder than I wanted to behind me. At this point, I'd gotten used to all of their gossip, but I still hated it. Every time, even if I try to ignore it, I still felt miserable and sad afterwards. It's horrible, I truly hate gossips.

I shuffled through my pockets and got out the three thousand yen bill I had taken with me. I headed to the pharmacy and got the pills she asked for, but unfortunately, I barely had anything left for myself. I went to a little café not far from here and bought myself a bagel. I ate it on my way back to the house.

I'd been barely gone for 20 minutes, so when I got back, they were all still sitting at the table, talking amongst each other. They had gotten all pretty close to each other, especially in their bedroom groups. Even Kokichi got along well with them, after he told me inside the game that everyone was boring and he didn't care about them at all.

I pulled my cap down and entered the kitchen. All eyes laid on me as I dropped the bag with the receipt and pills on the counter, turning around quickly to go back to my room, hands in my pockets.

I took a deep breath as I entered my room and closed the door behind me.

I opened my case file and started my report.

I felt... happy.

I felt happy that I had just helped. A smile crept its way onto my face as my fingers slid across my laptop keyboard, hitting the keys repeatedly.

[...]  
  


I sighed, finally sending in the report. I also sent a message to my uncle saying I would be coming to the office on Sunday morning to get more cases to work on and bringing back all the completed file folders.

I looked at the hour. 8:56 PM. It was still a little early to go to sleep.

I was aching to play the piano again. It was so relaxing, and it was just what I needed now. But I knew it was risky to go down an play it when everyone's home.

Yet I still found myself standing up and heading out of my room towards the living room.

I heard voices and splashes coming from outside the house, so I assumed they were all either swimming or playing tennis outside, as usual. This was perfect; luck was on my side today it seems.

I entered the living room and sat down at the piano.

My fingers ran over the cover and lifted it up, revealing the pearly white notes and the contrasting black keys.

I scanned through Kaede's sheets, looking for something I could play, careful not to mess up anything. Eventually, I came across two pieces by Einaudi, Nuvole Bianche and Experience. Both were truly wonderful pieces; I'd learned them a few years back, helped by my aunt and uncle.

I settled on Nuvole Bianche and started playing.

The sweet melody coming from the piano danced through the air, flowing through my brain and putting me on the same cloud I was on last week. It was almost addictive, like a drug, a harmless one though. Back when I was living with my uncle, I would play the piano, but it was more of a hobby. With my current situation, it definitely changed from just being a hobby. It became some kind of... escape.

I found myself closing my eyes, letting my fingers fly on the keyboard according to my memory. My fingers finally pressed the final key, the melody slowly dying, allowing the room's silence to take over.

I scanned the room around me to make sure no one was seeing me, before returning back to the piano. I changed the sheet, replacing it with Experience, putting back Nuvole Bianche in the exact same spot I'd taken it.

And then I started playing again.

The melody of this piece was extremely touching. Everytime I played it, I would always imagine myself stories and scenarios that went along with the dramatic tone, each of them telling a deep story. It was also some sort of escape from reality, which felt amazing.

My fingers danced across the keyboard, my hands not moving much since the piece was mostly played at the center of the keyboard.

When I was finally done with this song, I let out a deep sigh, almost feeling a huge weight lifting off my shoulders.

"Shuichi."

A voice startled me, making me jump in my seat. 'Someone saw me again, oh no...' I gulped and turned around. It was Kaede, but she was alone this time.

She was looking at the floor, a sad expression on her face. Her mouth formed a line, her lips almost trembling. She also fiddled with her fingers.

"Shuichi... can we please talk...?"

I felt my heart skip a beat. I couldn't even move, I just sat there, staring at her, not even knowing what to say.

"I... I- I want to be your friend again, Shuichi. I truly believe you're a good person and I'm willing to do anything for you to talk to us again."

Her voice had slowly started shaking as she finished her sentence. By the end, tears were pouring out of her eyes and she was slowly sobbing, eyes closed and mouth trembling.

I felt my heart shatter in little pieces as I watched her slowly lift her head to look at me. I couldn't even think about keeping up my little act, so I just stayed there, mouth wide open with shock.

Kaede, of all people, wanted to be friends with me again? After what I'd done to her?

...

I felt the tears prickling the corners of my eyes.

I was so done. So done with all of this bullshit. This little act had gone on long enough. Just as I was about to blurt out everything, I heard and saw something move from the corner of my eyes.

The small camera stared right at me, almost menacingly.

Everything suddenly came back to me, all the threats I'd gotten from the man and the lies I had to stand behind.

I stood up and bolted towards the door. I went down the hallway, up the stairs and finally, into my room and closed the door behind me, locking it.

I took a deep shaky breath. I let the tears slide down my face as I put a hand over my mouth to muffle the sobs that were coming out of my mouth.

Horrible. Painful. All of this. I just stood there, back against my door, letting out muffled cries constantly, tears flowing down my cheeks and onto my hands and shirt.

I'm so sick of crying all the time. I'm so sick of all of this.

...

After a few minutes, I slowly gathered to strenght to walk and then slowly slid myself down on my desk chair and opened my laptop, hoping to take my mind off of things, as I slowly started calming down. I was ready to enter my password, but instead, my screen glitched and a sentence appeared on it.

'Outside the house, at 11 tonight. We have to talk about your behavior.'

My stomach did a flip and my blood ran cold.

This could only be one person. It was Kokichi's dad. This meant that he saw my piano prestations, how I gave them the medicine and how I reacted to Kaede's proposition, as I expected.

I didn't realize my hands started trembling as I stood there, frozen. I began panicking, fearing something would happen to my uncle and aunt.

What if he hurts them? What if he even also hurts my parents? It's not like I care about them though... no I definitely still care about them a little.

Even if they abandonned me?

I shook my head as my body became limp and my breathing became difficult. My vision was spotty and my lungs were strained as silent tears slid down my cheeks. Tears mixed with anger, sadness and...

Despair.

All I could feel was utter despair.


	16. Despair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Climax of the story (a.k.a I’d say it’s mostly halfway done).

I gulped as I went down the stairs, trying to be as silent as possible.

I passed through the dark kitchen and headed directly to the front door, anxiety slowly building up gradually in my stomach. My body, which had stopped aching a few days ago, was hurting more than ever, I felt like my legs would give out under me anytime soon.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw a dark figure standing just a few feet away from the porch. As soon as I closed the door, he started talking.

"You've got some balls trying to defy me like that."

My eyes widened in panic as I looked at him from the porch.

"Come here immediately."

I held my cap with my hand, bringing it down as much as I could, nervously. I took a few hesitant steps towards him.

And just as I almost reached him, I saw a hand coming straight for me. He slapped me harshly across the face, making me stumble backward a little.

I let out a hiss of pain as I felt my cheek heat up and start stinging. I couldn't help the small tears of pain from forming at the corners of my eyes.

"I've seen what you did. You played the piano TWICE in front of your little pitiful friends and you even went as far as buying them something with your own money. I can accept you working your ass off to help them, but that? Hell no."

He grabbed my face with his hand harshly, making me let out a whimper of pain, and pulled it up for me to look at him. His tall figure stood over me menacingly.

He grinned.

"I hope that slap knocked back some senses into you. Don't forget the consequences of your actions."

He then put another hand to my face and started rubbing my cheek. He wiped the tears off my face creepily. I tried to wriggle free from his grip, but he held my face so tightly I could barely even move. His piercing purple eyes were staring down at me with malice.

I couldn't believe this man was Kokichi's father.

He then pushed my face away, his nails digging into my skin and scrapping my face.

"I don't want you to interact with them at all anymore. I want to see you fall into despair all on your own like the little shit you are. And stop playing that stupid piano too, it's useless and you suck at it."

I felt the tears coming up again. I didn't have the energy to hold them back anymore and just started sobbing quietly.

"That's right, cry for me."

He laughed and then started walking away.

"This is just getting interesting, so don't expect to get out of this soon, my beloved Mastermind! See you later now!~"

I watched as he slowly disappeared into the night, not even looking back once.

...

I couldn't even move. I just stood there, unable to even cry anymore. I just stared at the floor, feeling completely devoid of any emotions.

Shortly after, tears started sliding down again.

'I'm such an idiot. I'm such an idiot thinking I would ever get a happy ending.'

... Am I going to suffer forever? Alone? Without anybody by my side to support me? Without any friends to talk to, or even people to go to for help?

[...]

??? POV

I scrolled on my phone, going through endless pics of the killing game, fanart and even memes about all of us.

It was quite funny to be honest, seeing how everyone interpreted our real personalities and relationships with only the few moments that were shown on television.

I looked at my alarm clock. 10:56 PM

Kaito and Keebo were both sound asleep, snoring lightly. Well, except Kaito, he was snoring like a god damn bulldozer. No wonder Gonta couldn't sleep and had to move to the other guys' room.

I grumbled, getting up from my bed. Phone in hand, I yawned and made my way out of my room. I then went into the hallway and down the stairs quietly, finally reaching the kitchen. I opened the fridge and stood there, thinking of what I could possibly eat.

Since our budget was getting pretty low, we barely had anything to snack on; just meals and things to drink. I sighed and just ended up grabbing an apple on the counter, remembering what Rantaro told me about how I should eat more healthy and stop eating so much sweets.

I rolled my eyes thinking about that conversation, before I left the kitchen to go down the hallway to the living room. From the living room, I opened the door that led to the backyard and then closed it behind me.

The fresh night air was relaxing and more than often helped me with sleeping. There'd been more than a few times where I would doze off on one of the benches around the garden and wake up the next day with a sore back. I found it funny but Keebo insisted that it wasn't good for my "growth".

But then, as I was about to go back inside, I heard voices coming from the front of the house.

Curious, I walked over there without hesitation, as silent as possible.

I sneaked around the brick wall and the view that stood in front of me was quite surprising.

It was Shuichi, standing on the porch, with a tall man, probably around 6 foot tall, standing a few feet away from him. The man's face was hidden by a hood. He was wearing a weird long black cape, it was really weird and cringy, I couldn't believe people still wore this kind of thing nowadays.

I could see Shuichi's face clearly though. He looked...

Panicked.

Wow, it's been a while since I last saw that look on mister detective's face. I couldn't tell if it was genuine or not, after all, he became completely unreadable the moment he outed himself as the bastard he truly is.

"Come here immediately."

The voice of the man rung through the air. It was cold, menacing and filled with authority. It felt also... familiar.

I decided to open my phone and start filming this. I had a bad feeling about all of this and if they ever notice me or say something important, I'll have video evidence.

Shuichi flinched and then started slowly walking up to the man. He looked down at the floor, hiding behind that emo hat of his. I thought he'd gotten rid of it for good in the game; I didn't think he also had it in real life.

Then, something I could have never foresaw happened. The man lifted his hand and slapped it across Shuichi's face. Shuichi stumbled back, before falling down and trying to get back up right after. 'What the fuck?!' I felt the rage build up inside of me. Who the hell is this motherfucker and why did he just hit Shuichi like that?

"I've seen what you did. You played the piano TWICE in front of your little pitiful friends and you even went as far as buying them something with your own money. I can accept you working your ass off to help them, but that? Hell no."

...

Excuse me?

What did he just say...?

My train of thoughts was brutally interrupted by the sight of the man walking towards Shuichi. He grabbed his face and pulled him up from the floor like he was a rag doll. This made me so mad. Wait, why was I so mad about this? I should be grateful... right? I want Shuichi to suffer after what he did...

_~~Right?~~ _

...

"I hope that slap knocked back some senses into you. Don't forget the consequences of your actions."

What consequences. What the hell is this man talking about? What did he mean when he said Shuichi was working his ass off for us? He didn't even help with anything in the house and looked at us like we were mere ants to him, so what was it?

Endless questions swirled in my head as the man put his other hand on Shuichi's face and started to caress his cheek.

I felt the urge to just go there and push him away from Shuichi. How dare he touch Shuichi like that?! That's so creepy, even for someone like Shuichi.

"I don't want you to interact with them at all anymore. I want to see you fall into despair all on your own like the little shit you are. And stop playing that stupid piano too, it's useless and you suck at it."

...

What did he mean by "fall into despair"? Wasn't this a killing game thing? Is this man from the Team Danganronpa headquarters? And why is he saying that, the stupid game is over. My urge to go over there and kick him got even more intense. I checked my phone to see if it was still recording, and it was.

It was completely silent for a few seconds, before I started hearing sniffles and sobs.

"That's right, cry for me."

His sentence unsettled me. Then, he laughed and then started walking away. I looked at Shuichi. His back was facing against me so I couldn't see his face, but from the way he was trembling, I'd say the sobs came from him. I felt the urge to just go there and comfort him, squeeze him in my arms until he tries to wriggle free, like I used to do in the game.

"This is just getting interesting, so don't expect to get out of this soon, my beloved Mastermind! See you later now!~"

...

My beloved Mastermind? Why... why is he calling him that? That’s my thing!

As the man slowly started getting further, I quickly backed away and when I made sure no one could see me, I bolted back inside the house. I really couldn't risk being seen after what I'd heard.

I went back upstairs and into my room. I threw myself on my bed.

I closed my phone after carefully saving the video and put it on my nightstand. I curled myself into my bed and held onto one of my pillows in my arms.

My brain slowly tried to process what had just happened.

...

I just saw Shuichi get slapped and yelled at by a man, probably a Team Danganronpa employee. He got threatened and even started crying.

He freaking cried.

~~_My beloved Saihara-chan cried._ ~~

I shook my head, trying to shoo away the thoughts. This wasn't my business and I didn't care about that stupid bastard. He played, crushed, twisted and laughed at my feelings like it was just a hobby to him. He's a monster.

_~~But monsters like him don't cry the way he did.~~ _

...

I felt my heart squeeze a little when I remembered the scene where he was slapped across the face. And the one where he started crying. I couldn't even deny it anymore; it broke my heart to see him like this.

There had to be something more to this.

All of this was suspicious. Wasn't Shuichi the ultimate Mastermind behind all of this? Then why was this guy here?

I couldn't sleep at all, so I pulled out my phone and my earbuds. I opened my camera roll to look at the video.

I replayed it once. Twice. Three times. Four times.

Each time analyzing a different thing. After five times, I couldn't bring myself to watch it anymore. It was too painful, watching Shuichi get trampled on this way.

All the man said... it almost sounded like he held Shuichi hostage. That ugly bastard mentionned how mad he was that Shuichi played the piano twice, even though I only saw him play it once, and that he brought back Miu and Gonta's medicine.

And then he mentioned the whole work thing. This made me the most confused. How could he even work? He barely even went out of the house, and when he did, he would come back 2 or three hours later maximum, that was clearly not enough time to work.

He also mentioned some "consequences" which only fueled my theory of a hostage situation. And finally, he mentioned how he wanted to give him despair.

But why would he do that? We're out of the game, so what's the point? And was it also necessary for him to insult his piano skills?

'I thought the song he played was beautiful... he sure can play well.' I thought as my cheeks warmed up without my consent. The memory of him just calmly playing the piano, his slender hands flying over the keyboard like he’d done this his whole life, crept its way into my mind. I shook the thought away.

I frowned, turning around in my bed.

It was decided.

I was going to uncover every secret about Shuichi. And nothing, not even that mysterious piece of shit of a man could get in my way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi is kind of dumb in this story I’m sorry, it’s for the plot I swear!


	17. Kaede’s Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi talks with Kaede and Shuichi’s health isn’t the best.

"Hey guys!~ Who wants to go to the café with me this afternoon?"

I placed my hands behind my head as everyone stared at me from the couches of the living room. I let out a giggle.

"What's with those faces? Do I have something between my teeth?"

"Jeez, you're so weird Kokichi. Why are you asking this all of a sudden?" asked Kaito, face strained in confusion.

"Well, I'm just really craving for one of those little pastries from last week and I don't want to go there alone.~" I fake pouted.

"What a fuckin' virgin! Can't even walk alone!"

"You're one to talk you stupid whore!" I snapped back at her. She quickly understood what I meant and let out a whimper.

"But Kokichi... we're slowly running out of money, we can't afford to go buy this kind of thing!" said Tsumugi.

"She's right Ko. You should just grab something healthy from the fridge for once too." said Rantaro.

"Gosh, what are you, my nanny?! I ate, like, 10 apples yesterday and you guys didn't even notice!"

"B-But there isn't even 10 apples-" started Himiko.

I cut her. "I found two hundred yen in my pocket yesterday and it turns out it's just enough for one of those delicious little pastries so..."

I turned around to Kaede.

"Oh! Kaedeeee!~ Wanna come with me?"

She raised an eyebrow. She set down her piano music sheets that she had been sorting.

"Sure, I guess?"

"Yay! Come on now, I don't have all day y'know."

I grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room with me, under the eyes of the others.

I successfully got out of the house and let go of her arm. We both walked in silence, her following me not far behind.

"Hey Kokichi, this isn't the way to the café isn't it?"

"Nope! We're going some place quiet so that I can kill you without any witness!"

She was startled. "W-what?!"

"Nishishi! Just kidding!"

She let out a sigh as I continued walking. We eventually reached a park. I sat down on a bench and invited her to sit down besides me.

"So... why did you bring me here?"

"..."

I took a deep breath.

"I was hoping you would be the one to come to be honest."

She raised an eyebrow at my maybe too sudden change of tone.

"What's wrong? Why are you acting so serious like that...?"

I put my hands behing my head and sighed.

"Last night, I wasn't sleeping and all so I went outside to get some fresh air and... I saw something."

Her eyes widened slightly.

"What did you see?" she asked curiously.

I stared at her right in the face. She seemed a little unsettled by my serious look.

"I think it's better if I show you."

I pulled out my phone, opened it on the video and handed it to her.

She took it hesitantly and looked at it, a look of surprise quickly installed itself on her face.

"...Shuichi? Why do you have a photo of him? And who's this man?"

"It's a video dumbass. Click it and watch it."

She did as I told her.

I saw her face switch from calm, to horrified, to confused, to sad and to angry all throughout the video.

"W-what the hell is this?! Who's this man and what are they saying?!" she semi-shouted.

"Calm down jeez. There's a reason why I wanted you to watch this video."

She gritted her teeth, looking away. Small tear prickled the corners of her eyes.

"I think that Shuichi's being held hostage for something by this man."

"Hostage?! How?!"

"I have no idea. But he's insulting him and visibly telling him all those things to get a reaction out of him. He said he wanted Shuichi to feel despair, so this man clearly has extremely bad intentions."

"You're right, it really can't be good."

She wiped away her tears.

"So... what side of him is the true one? Is this psychopath creepy side of him all a lie too? What if he wasn't even the mastermind in the first place?"

"We can't make assumptions yet." I said.

She sniffed.

"How can I help... please tell me how I can help him. I just want things to go back like how it used to be..."

I lowered my head, thinking back to how he used to be in the game. His smile, his laugh, his handsome face-

I found myself blushing for a slight moment, before I took a deep breath. I don't even know which part of him is an act anymore. His entire existence suddenly became ten times more confusing.

"We're going to have to investigate~" I said with a smirk, swinging my hands behind my head.

"Investi...gate?" she said hesitantly.

"Yep! Exactly like we did in that stupid awful dumb boring game! But this time, it won't be Shuichi helping us all..."

I put my hand in a fist and showed it to her.

"It'll be us who are helping out Shuichi. Are you down Kayayde?" I asked.

She stared at me with her mouth wide open for a few seconds.

"Kokichi... you like Shuichi, don't you?"

I felt the heat rise up to my cheeks.

"What?! Nu-uh, no way Jose! He's so ugly, with that dumb blue hair and his ugly piss yellow eyes, I have standards y'know?"

Kaede just stared at me with a small smirk. She raised an eyebrow playfully, before letting out a small giggle.

"Yeah, right. Keep lying to yourself."

I rolled my eyes. I decided to change the subject.

"So?! Are you going to bump my fist or am I going to wait here forever?"

She laughed and then raised her own fist. She lightly bumped it against mine.

"Yes, I'm down to help you!"

"Perfect! Now, let's establish a plan!"

[...]  
  


SHUICHI POV

I was on the train, cap pulled down, mask pulled over my nose and hoodie over my head. I yawned, my eyebags pulling and throbbing under my eyes, begging me to close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

It was Sunday morning and I was on my way to my uncle's office. A day and a half had passed since the man came. The last two nights were terrible, I didn't close my eyes even once, insomnia and stress bitting me in the back. I'd spent the whole day in my room yesterday, finishing up my cases and adjusting the files correctly.

I felt my stomach rumble. I'd not eaten since yesterday morning either; I was overall in a horrible shape. It was almost summer, yet when I woke up I couldn't help putting on a hoodie, shivering nonstop. I was still shivering, even with two layers of clothes, my dress shirt underneath my hoodie.

I felt my throat tingle all of a sudden and I let out a cough. A spark of cold shook my entire body and made me jump in my seat, people around me glancing at me for a quick second from the sudden movement, before they laid back their eyes on their phones.

As I was starting to drift off, my eyes fluttering, the train announced its arrival to my station. I stood up, feeling my body scream at me to sit back down and sleep, and made my way out of the train. I walked through the station's corridors and finally arrived outside, before walking to the office.

When I got there, I opened the unlocked door and pulled down my hood.

"Oh, Shuichi! Good morni- oh my god."

I smiled weakly at the man.

"Good morning sir-"

"You look awful my boy. What happened to you?!" I let out a little chuckle and waved my hands in front of me protectively. "Oh, I'm fine sir, just had trouble sleeping last night." The man frowned for a slight second, analyzing my statement. "I suppose that can explain it. Well then, you can go upstairs, your uncle and aunt are working together on administration this morning so you should see them both in your uncle's office." I nodded. "Thank you Sero. See you later!"

I waved at the man and he waved back, before I slowly headed up the stairs and towards the office.

I knocked and opened the door as I heard both voices calling at me to open. I entered the room and saw their faces light up with smiles when they saw me.

"Shuichi! Welcome ba-"

Both their faces dropped. Immediately, my aunt rushed over to my side and put a hand on my forehead, making me jump in suprise from the sudden gesture.

"You're burning hot! Boiling!" my aunt said as she held my shoulders. "R-Really, I uh- didn't notice..." I saw my uncle coming up to me with a worried sad expression on his face.

"You look awful Shuichi. You're so pale and you're shivering like crazy, did you catch a cold?" he asked.

My mind flashed back to Friday night. After I'd finished my conversation with the man, it had started raining, but I couldn't find the strength to get back up so I just... laid there. That must be where I caught that nasty cold.

"I think so... it rained a few days ago and I was stuck outside for a bit." My uncle removed my hat and moved my hair away from my face to put a hand on my forehead.

"Yeah, your aunt is right, you have a super high fever. We need to get you to the hospital right now."

"Right now?! B-but I feel fine, I-I'm just-"

"I don't want to hear it. We're going Shuichi, period. Your health is more important than anything else and it's our job to make sure you're okay."

My uncle and aunt looked both really worried. It made me feel guilty, so I just sighed and nodded. "Fine..."

[...]

We all got in my uncle's car as he drove me to the nearest hospital, not before going back to the house to get my medical card and records. We waited for about an hour in a room filled with either sick or slightly injured people, before a doctor came to get us. He brought us to a little room and began his check-up on me. He did blood tests on me, an X-ray and left the room a few minutes later, leaving me, my aunt and my uncle in the room alone. There was a silence for a brief moment.

"So, Shuichi, how was your two weeks?" asked my aunt, changing the subject and smiling at me.

I turned to face both of them completely, sitting from the examination chair.

"It was fine, pretty relax actually... nothing much happened, they give us classes from 8 to 2 and we're free the rest of the time, except that we're barely allowed out of the house."

"Huh? Why is that?" asked my uncle, raising an eyebrow.

I gulped, taking notice of the small microphone clipped on the inside of my hoodie.

"They wish to monitor our mental health... to make sure we don't do anything impulsive that could be problematic, I-I think... I'm the only one allowed outside since they didn't mess with my brain enough to possibly give it side effects."

"Sounds complicated... I think they're being a little too harsh on you kids... but I guess they're just being cautious so it's fine." said my aunt, sighing.

I nodded.

"How were the cases Shuichi? Not too complicated?" asked my uncle.

I smiled and shook my head. "They were okay, most of them were simple and easy to solve, but a few of them were more challenging."

He smiled. "Of course, I knew you would find these too easy, so that's why I added these more complicated cases in between them. I'm glad you still got to the bottom of them though."

He looked at me in the eyes.

"You're definitely going to be an outstanding detective when you grow older, you may even surpass me." My aunt snickered. "Of course he's going to surpass you! He's much better than you when you were at this age!"

I giggled as my uncle glared at my aunt. She glared back at him with a grin.

Just as my uncle was about to snap something back at her, the door opened. The doctor came in.

"Hello. I have the blood test results for Mr. Saihara."


	18. Sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi gets sick (there’s no description of disgusting stuff like snot and stuff, so you don’t have to worry about that)

He sat down at his desk chair and stared right at me.

"You show early signs of pneumonia. There's an inflammation starting to settle in your lungs and your blood test shows that it's actively trying to fight the infection."

My uncle took a deep breath and my aunt nodded. I gulped. I excepted a cold, not a full on pneumonia.

"However, it seems you were quite lucky because the inflammation hasn't fully developed yet. Therefore, if you follow the treatment correctly, you'll be fine very soon."

I nodded. "I-I understand."

"Very well." The doctor took out a sheet of paper and scribbled down something I couldn't possibly read. He then took out another sheet and wrote in a much clearer handwriting. I wonder how doctors can do that.

He handed me both sheets. "This one is a antibiotics prescription you will have to pick up at the nearest pharmacy. The other is what you need to do in order to treat this the best way you can." I nodded again. "Thank you doctor."

The man nodded and led us out of the room and back at the entrance. The receptionist took care of some paperwork and finally let us go.

I let out a deep sigh as I got out of the hospital, accompanied by my aunt and uncle.

"Shuichi, you heard what the doctor said, right?" asked my uncle. I nodded, head hanging low. "I want you to rest Shuichi. Take a break from classes and work and just relax, you need it."

My aunt put a hand on my shoulder. "We don't want you getting worst too, so you better rest appropriately, okay?" I nodded, feeling like a child being scolded by its parents.

"For now, please go back to the house to rest. We would keep you here with us but we don't want to go against the rules you talked about earlier concerning Team Danganronpa." said my uncle with a disappointed sight. I smiled at him nervously. "It's fine, don't worry uncle, I'll definitely take care of myself appropriately."

They both smiled at me. "Perfect. You also have your friends to help you, right? I'm sure they'll be willing to help you."

My heart squeezed as I felt a shiver run throughout my body. "Y-yeah, definitely!"

My aunt smiled.

We got in the car and they decided to drive me all the way back to the house, refusing to allow me to take the train. We stopped by the pharmacy and picked up the medication on the way. I made conversation with them the whole time; we talked about everything; they asked about my piano hobby and I told them what I recently played, they told me about some disrespectful clients they had and unfortunate encounters with the "rude ass policemen from that god damnit useless station", as cited from my uncle, which made me laugh greatly. We finally arrived, around three hours later, to the house.

"You better take care of yourself Shuichi and call us everyday, okay?" asked my aunt.

"I will. Thank you for bringing me back! Oh, and what about the new cases you had for me...?" I asked, looking at my uncle.

"For now, you relax. I'll send them to you by post in a few days, after I make sure you're getting appropriate rest. Oh, and take this."

He shuffled through his work bag, looking between the numerous files and random papers. He pulled out a small envelope.

"This is your credit card and debit card you used to have a while back. I reactivated both of them so they're both usable and linked to your account. I had to give you a new NIP though, unfortunately, but the rest is the same."

I nodded, taking the envelope and opening it, finding the familiar cards I used to have a few months ago before they got deactivated due to inactivity.

"I already paid you for the last two weeks so you have all your money in there."

I nodded. "Thanks uncle. It's really appreciated."

"No problem kiddo, just doing my job." he said with a smile.

I smiled back and waved at them. I watched them drive away, going back to the office probably. I sighed, turned around, and walked towards the entrance of the house. I put the cards in my prescription bag and opened the door. I yawned and closed the door behind me.

As I walked down the corridor, I looked at my watch. It was nearly 6 PM, I'd been at the hospital the whole day. My stomach was begging me to eat something, so I headed directly to the kitchen. My head was pounding and my eyelids were heavy, but I needed to eat something.

Gosh I really felt like shit, I now realize how bad it actually is. I was really cold, my body couldn't stop shivering at all and my throat was dry as hell.

I really needed something hot, so I settled for some instant ramen. I really didn't have the energy to make myself a whole meal.

I boiled the water and poured it in the cup. I put my hands around, the heat from the carton cup tingling my hands. It felt great.

I put the chicken flavor in it and sat down at the table to eat. The warm meal was comforting, making the shiver eating up at my skin die down a little. I drank some water at the same time, a recommendation from the doctor. I also took the bottle of medicine and opened it. I grabbed the right dose and downed it with water.

When I was finished, I went to the kitchen and threw the cup in the trash and washed my fork and spoon, before going back in the dining area.

And of course, someone was there. You guessed it; it was Kokichi.

He was holding my prescription, reading the etiquette. When I appeared, his eyes shot up.

But instead of his usual look of annoyance and anger, he looked... curious.

"Hey, what's this for huh? What's uh-"

He tried to pronounce the name of the medicine, but it came out horribly wrong. I held back a laugh as I got nearer, trying to keep a poker face.

I grabbed it from his hands and grabbed the rest of my things that were laying a little further away.

"N-None of your business."

I turned around, pulling down my cap. He took a dramatic deep breath as I walked away with my things. "I need to talk to you Shuichi...- Hey! Come back here-"

I trotted over to my room and closed the door behind me, ignoring his calls.

I sighed and threw the medication on my bed before stripping down from my clothes. The cold air coming from the air conditioning made my shivering intensify and I started sweating as well. I quickly put on a t-shirt, another loose long sleeved sports shirt and a hoodie, before sliding myself into bed, under two blankets.

I closed my eyes and forced myself to drift off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates will be slower for a week or so because I have mid terms next week. Thank you for understanding.


	19. Worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi doesn’t feel good and the others get suspicious.

My eyes fluttered open as the sun came shining down on me. I slowly tried to lift myself up.

A sharp pain in my entire body made me yelp out in surprise and I fell back down, my arms giving out under my weight. I felt less sleepy than yesterday but I felt even weaker.

I reached for the glass of water on my desk that I'd brought from the kitchen last night and gulped it down. I felt a little better but this wasn't enough.

I remember the doctor talking about a humidifier. I think Kirumi had bought one when Miu and Gonta were sick, so I should probably go get it. 'Oh... and I'm supposed to go down for class any minute now...'

I sighed as I made another attempt at standing up. I hissed as yet another sharp pain struck through my body, making my breath hitch. I still managed to stand up, but I was panting hard and my breaths were short. My entire body was complaining against the idea of even moving.

I still made my way to my door, ignoring the striking pain, and opened it. The big storage was downstairs, besides the staircase, so I will probably be able to go and get water on the way as well.

Each step I took was laboured, but I kept pushing forward, reassuring myself by thinking I'll be able to completely rest in my bed after that. I eventually made it to the stairs and got down to the corridor, that gave full view to the dining area. Everyone was eating and didn't seem to notice me as I slowly walked to the storage room and when I finally made it there, I picked up the humidifier, grunting. It was big and heavy as hell and my back was protesting against that new heavy weight.

I slowly made my way back upstairs and went to the bathroom to fill it up, but not entirely, since I would probably be unable to pick it back up after. I was lucky my room was near the bathroom because god damn was this heavy. After that, I grabbed my empty glass of water and went to the bathroom to get myself more water, physically way too exhausted to go back downstairs to the kitchen.

I headed back to my room, started the machine and gulped down the glass of water with my medication before laying back in bed. I could afford to skip some classes; I had passing grades and that's all that mattered.

My eyes closed once again and I drifted of to a dreamless sleep.

[...]

KOKICHI POV

"Hey, what class do we have today?" asked Kaito between two munches, his fork resting on his plate. Tenko stood up, going to the kitchen to put her dishes in the sink. "Mathematics... I think?"

"Please~ it's the same thing every week, you guys have such a shit memory!" I shouted, rolling my eyes. "Shut up Kokichi! You failed the last English test because you couldn't even remember what we learned in the last class!" snapped back Miu. She was feeling a lot better than a few days ago, her cold had completely disappeared.

"Does anyone know why Shuichi just passed by to get the humidifier?" asked Maki, as serious as ever. Kaito turned to look at her. "Huh? He was here?"

Shuichi...

I frowned.

In the last two days, Kaede and I have worked individually to try and find clues to could lead us to knowing what the hell was going on. I picked his lock yesterday and went into his room, but I couldn't find anything... except the photos pinned to the wall in front of his desk. There were dozens of pictures from the game of him and the others, chatting and having fun.

I took one of them. It was a picture of him and I; he looked worried and panicked, bandaging my injured finger as I was smiling, visibly looking at his face. I found myself smiling looking at that picture, before reality came crashing down and I was reminded of everything that had happened.

I shook my head and pinned the photo back to the wall. I tried getting into his laptop, but it required a password that I had no idea of.

I decided to get out of his room, acting bored and rolling my eyes, making sure the camera saw me. I knew someone was watching me at that moment, I'd seen the camera move from the corner of my eye.

This only helped me understand a little more. If this camera was so insistant on watching me, then this was surely because something interesting was going on with Shuichi.

And yesterday... when he came back from who knows where, he looked like complete shit. His hair was all messed up, he was sweating like crazy and was trembling all over. I'd found some medication as well on the table, it belonged to him but I couldn't figure out what it was.

"Hey does anyone know what's [medicine name I'm not a doctor]?" I asked.

"Nyeh, why do you want to know that?" asked Himiko. Ryoma grumbled. "I've heard that name before but I can't tell you what it's for."

"I have it here." said Rantaro, looking at his phone. "It's a medicine to help cure pneumonia, a common respiratory disease."

"Oh I know about pneumonia! It's also a deadly disease isn't it?" said Kaito. My eyes widened and my blood ran cold. "Uh-"

I was interrupted by Kirumi.

"Like Rantaro said, it's a common respiratory infection that attacks the lungs. It can get deadly but only if not taken care of properly. It causes shortness of breath, fatigue and loads of other not so pleasant symptoms. If anybody gets these symptoms here make sure to tell me as quickly as possible." I gulped. 'Does Shuichi have pneumonia...?' I thought as I imagined the worst.

"Wait Kokichi why are you asking that? Did you caught it?!" shouted Miu, moving away from me. I rolled my eyes. "Obviously not, I don't catch petty diseases like these, unlike you slut." Miu let out a squeak and sat back down, sighing.

"So then, why did you ask?" asked Korekiyo, his hand fiddling with his pulled down mask. I swung my hands behind my head. "Shuichi had those yesterday. When I asked him what they were he told me it was none of my business."

There was a heavy silence as everyone looked at each other. "What? Shuichi's sick?!" shouted Kaede a few seconds later, standing up brutally. I frowned, looking at her, she shouldn't have bursted out like this, the people watching us may get suspicious. She met my eyes and quickly sat back down, realizing what I was trying to tell her.

Nobody knew what to say. Obviously, no one was willing to go and offer their help to him. Kaito was frowning, his eyes had a mix of worry and frustration, Maki had a neutral look and Kaede looked extremely worried. I looked to the other side of the table.

Keebo had been acting pretty mysterious lately, especially after coming out of the game. Sure, he became human, that's a big deal and he's dealing with it pretty well but it always seems like there's something else on his mind. Even now, he looked extremely worried and confused. "Hey Keebo!"

He turned towards me, his face shifting to a more annoyed one. "What is it Kokichi...?"

"What happened at the end of the game?"

Immediately, the entire table looked back at me, some frowning and others looking panicked. We'd agreed a while back to mention the game as little as possible.

"W-what? What do you mean?" I sighed. "Well~, we saw you blow up the school at the end but just as you stopped in front of Mr. Detective, the screen turned black. Mind telling us what happened after that?"

The former robot lifted a hand to his chin, thinking. "Well... i-it's pretty blurry in my mind, since I was half there, but I vaguely remember seeing Shuichi talk with Monokuma. He also smiled and waved at me, before muttering something, but I probably heard that wrong."

"What'd he say?" asked Kaito, a hint of curiosity in his voice. Keebo took a deep breath. "Well... he said thank you. I-I surely must have heard that wrong, after all, why would h-he even say that?"

Everybody's eyes widened a little. "It was probably an act of that degenerate male, just to make you feel guilty!" Keebo sighed. "I guess so..."

...

Keebo definitely hadn't heard that wrong. After all, he was a robot at the time, why would he even process words that were wrong? I glanced at Kaede and saw that she was looking straight into my eyes. I grinned for a slight second and her face seemed to light up. Another clue to our investigation had shown its face.

[Truth bullet acquired: Shuichi's last words.]

"So then, what do we do about him? We can't just... leave him there." asked Tsumugi hesitantly. Nobody answered.

"I can bring him some meals."

Kirumi lifted her hand and brought it back down right after. "He might have done the most inhuman things on Earth, but leaving him there to die is an equally awful thing and I would never forgive myself if he did die."

"D-die?!" shouted Kaito. Kirumi sighed. "I've had that infection before... well, in my fabricated memories... but it was awful and I do not wish that upon anyone."

"I guess it's still fair to give him food..." said Angie. Maki growled. "It's basic human decency, I can't believe some of you are even hesitating, don't you have any shame?" She said that with a threatening tone as some other flinched. Faces strained with guilt started to appear on everyone.

"Gonta really wants to be friends with Shuichi.... Gonta misses Shuichi so maybe we could talk to Shuichi to become friends?"

Everyone stayed silent.

...

I grinned. As much as everyone hated it, they all missed Shuichi, it was painfully obvious even if they all denied it. Including myself of course. Nobody really realized how much he was an important part in the group until recently. There was always this feeling of missing something every time we were gathered together and it was slowly eating up at everyone's brains.

The door suddenly slammed open and in came the teacher.

"Okay kids, sit down and let's start."


	20. Concern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi gets a message and finally gets up from his bed after a couple of days.

SHUICHI POV

I yawned and opened my eyes.

I groaned as I felt a sharp pain in my lungs, making it hard for me to breath. My eyes laid on my phone on my nightstand and I picked it up.

It was four in the afternoon, I'd slept all day, missing my entire classes, exactly like yesterday. I sighed as I looked at my messages. My uncle asked me how I was doing and my aunt told me a bunch of things I needed to do to cure myself. I answered both of them and went to exit the app but then I found an unknown message.

I tapped it.

"Hello Shuichi. This is Kirumi. I just wanted to let you know I will drop off some food for you besides your door at 8 AM, 12 PM and 6 PM everyday. Is this okay for you?"

My eyes widened as I re-read the message. It was sent yesterday morning, but I hadn't seen it until now for some reason. 'How'd they know...?' My mind wandered back to yesterday when Kokichi was looking at my prescription. 'Ah... he must have told them.'

My hands trembling, from both cold and nervousness, I started typing out some words.

"Yes, thank you Kirumi." I made it as simple and neutral as possible.

As much as I didn't want her to bother wasting her precious time making me meals, I had absolutely no energy to go out of my room. I could barely even go to the bathroom to fill the humidifier, let alone go all the way down and make myself a meal.

I wasn't hungry either, but I knew I had to eat something in order to help my healing the best way possible.

I sighed as I tried getting up. I felt incredibly dirty, having not showered for nearly three days. My hair was sticking to my sweaty face and my clothes clinged to my skin uncomfortably. The pain was less intense than yesterday and the day before, but I felt even colder and I was sweating even more today. I'd also not eaten for two days, but despite that, I didn't feel hungry at all, only thirsty.

A shower would definitely do me some good. I opened my drawers and got out some fresh new clothes and headed out to go to the bathroom. When I got there, I locked the door behind me and undressed, feeling the cold air strike my body. I shivered as I turned on the shower.

My eyes glanced to the mirror as I waited for the water to become hot. I almost surprised myself when I saw my reflection.

My skin was as white as snow, my eyes were half opened and my eyebags were a dark purple mixed with blues and pinks, swollen and hanging low. My hair was stuck to my sunken cheeks, clinging to the sweat. Glancing down, I noticed I could see my rib cage push through my skin. That had never happened before; I've always been a little chubby, especially back in high school, from never doing any sports and only sitting at a desk all day, either watching Danganronpa, doing homework or playing the piano. The stress of the VR simulation made me loose a little bit of weight, but I hadn't noticed until now.

I got into the shower, the warm water making my body relax. It felt amazing and my constant shivering even stopped. I sighed and started washing my hair and body. When I was done, I didn't want to get out, so I just stayed there a little longer.

I finally got out of the shower after almost half an hour. I felt the most amazing I'd felt in a few days.

I grabbed my clean clothes and put them on. Feeling great, I decided to go downstairs to get myself a proper glass of water; not some cheap tap water from the bathroom's sink.

I took my medication with me and went downstairs. I headed to the kitchen; no one was around either. After that was done, as I went back to my room, I almost stumbled on Maki and Kaito, who were just turning around the corner to come in the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter :') This week is killing me.


	21. Maki and Kaito

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maki and Kaito talk with Shuichi and Kokichi POV.

I stumbled on Maki and Kaito, who were just turning around the corner to come in the kitchen.

"Ah!" I fell back and immediately hurried myself back up.

They both stared at me in silence as I replaced my clothes. "Uh... Shuichi?"

I snapped my head back up.

"Are you... feeling better?" continued Maki with a neutral tone.

I froze there, unable to respond for a few moments. "Uhm...."

"You look terrible, you should eat something..." Kaito said, tone laced with worry, avoiding my eyes, arms crossed.

I felt my breath hitch and the shiver start back up. I gave a weak nod and walked past them. But as I did that, a hand grabbed my wrist.

I twisted around, flinching.

"Shuichi..." Kaito was holding my wrist, his eyes burried in mine. They held a mix of sadness and... worry.

"Shuichi, w-we want to understand you better. As much as I hate what you did, I really... I really miss your company. Y-you were the best friend I've ever had, my trusted sidekick, a-and I really want us to be friends again. Both Maki Roll and I want to get to know the new you and maybe even try to forgive you."

My eyes widened and I felt my heart skip multiple beats.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

They were willing to forgive... me? They were willing to forget the shitty things I've done?

Panic slowly overwhelmed my brain as I tried to wriggle free from his grip. 'No no no, the man's going to notice this and he'll threaten me again... I need to get out of here.' "Shuichi please! Please don't push us away anymore we all want to be your friend. We've had a talk yesterday and we're all willing to forgive you if you give us the chance. Please Shuichi..."

I felt the tears sting my eyes as I finally wriggled free of his grip. I bolted towards the stairs.

"Shuichi!" I heard Kaito trying to run after me. "Leave him Kaito, it didn't work." Maki said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

Hot tears were spilling out of my eyes as I reached my room. I opened the door and closed it behind me, not even bothering to lock it, and threw myself on my bed. I slid under my three blankets and buried my face into my pillow. I let out muffled sobs as tears started staining my pillow.

My eyes wandered around to look at the camera. It sat there, in the corner of the room, looking at me. "Please make it stop... I can't take it anymore..." I mumbled.

My mind became overwhelmed with thoughts. Kokichi, my parents, my uncle and aunt, the man, Kaito and Maki, the others, their memories, money, my sickness...

I ended up passing out, completely exhausted.

[...]

KOKICHI POV

"Hello everyone!"

I looked up to who had spoken. There, near the living room door, the woman from Team Danganronpa was standing, her arms crossed and a grin plastered on her face. 'Did she just invite herself into the house like that? What a skank.' I thought.

"I have something for you!"

She walked up to the tea table and dropped a bag, as well as a big pile of files.

"This is everything we know about your past lives! Oh! And these are USB keys; they all contain the best moments from the game from each of you! Don't worry; none of the murders, executions or class trials are included, just your free time with others and other moments! We figured, after your dear mastermind asked for souvenirs of the game, you'd want the same!"

"He asked for souvenirs of the game?" asked Keebo, looking a little disturbed.

"Yep! His USB key is filled with his most gruesome moments, the most despair inducing ones! You can watch each other's souvenirs but not his! His is a secret!"

That was a pitiful lie, it was easy to tell. Especially after what happened Friday night. That means his USB key might have some important secrets if it has anything in it at all.

The woman exited the room after saying goodbye, leaving us all in silence.

"Not sure I want to look at this now..." said Ryoma.

Unable to wait anymore, I bounced up from my spot and snatched the bag filled with USB keys. I fiddled between them. They were all the same, except that each of them had a different sticker with our name on it.

I grinned, suddenly getting an idea.

Making sure my back was facing against the camera, I discretely took off my sticker and Shuichi's sticker. I switched our stickers, putting my name on his and his name on mine.

"Okay! I'll hand these out to everyone now!

I threw each of them at everyone. After that, I looked at the files. I also gave them out to everyone.

Nobody even dared to open them.

I sat back down at my spot and took a deep breath, opening it.

Immediately, a photo of me popped up.

I was wearing a school uniform and I was smiling. It looked like a class photo. But I wasn't grinning like I normally do... it was a genuine smile. I cringed... did my past self always smiled like this?

"Wow Kokichi, you look so nice and innocent on that photo!" said Kaito. I pulled the file away from him. "Stop looking into my business, idiot!" I shouted.

He let out a 'come on now!' before I continued looking. I read through the information, slowly starting to get sick.

...

I had three younger siblings and I was living with my mother. My father had disappeared a while back and was nowhere to be found.

I used to be... the most 'kind-hearted' person in my class, according to some people. While also being a natural leader, I cared about everyone's well being. I was also the type to get nervous over the simplest things but I would quickly recover from that nervosity.

I also apparently had plenty of friends, but one in particular stood out from the other. I tried reading their name, but it was coated in black marker. 'Suspicious...' I thought.

I'd also lost that friend after moving to a new city and that's where the documents stopped.

I took a deep breath. I looked up to everyone around me and I noticed they'd all opened theirs.

"Holy shit..."

"No way..."

"Damn..."

Everyone was letting out shocked breaths as they read about themselves. I'm glad to know I wasn't the most shocked one out of them all.

It unsettled me, but at the same time... I felt happy. Happy to know good ol' me wasn't a complete jackass like I am now. It was good to know I had a family too; I've always wanted to know what it felt like to have a loving family.

I stood up. "Okay losers, I'm going to go watch my souvenirs, see you all later!~"

Not waiting for a response, I bolted out of the room. I was getting more and more curious about what Shuichi's USB might contain; my past identity barely bothered me honestly.

I got to Miu's lab, where the only computer was, and plugged in the USB. I spotted the camera discretely; it was hidden in a corner of the room and luckily, it couldn't see the computer screen.

I grinned as I opened the file. I plugged in my earbuds as well and played the video.

The screen was black for a few seconds before words popped up. "Shuichi Saihara's most despair inducing moments! Hope you like it! I prepared it just for you, so you can see all of your best moments! Enjoy!"

I cringed at the note, before the video continued.


	22. The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi finds the truth.

...

It was pitch black for a few seconds. Then, all of a sudden, the screen lit up.

An image of Shuichi, looking directly in the camera, popped up.

"Hello? W-who are you?" he asked.

His voice was shaking. He was trembling and he was holding his cap. He was wearing clothes that seemed overly familiar.

Then, a voice rung in the silence, making him jump, letting out a small scream in surprise.

"Welcome, master. I'm glad to have you here! My name is Motherkuma, I will be in charge of making the Monokumas of this game."

I tried my best to keep my face neutral, as to not alert the cameras probably watching my very moves. I even grinned, to show I was enjoying it, when in reality, I was terrified. I'd heard of Motherkuma, but we barely got to see it since Keebo was busy destroying the school when they investigated the room.

"W-what? B-But why are you telling me this? Isn't it the whole purpose of the game to keep it a secret?" he asked.

Huh? He didn't know he was mastermind or...?

"Voice recognition activated, voice memorized. Software updated."

The machine buzzed, it's camera lagging for a few seconds. Shuichi still looked panicked as hell.

"Well, you are this game's Mastermind, it wouldn't be quite convenient for you to not know about your honorable servants."

"Excuse me?! I am what?!"

"You are my master, the Mastermind of this game. You are to make sure the game runs smoothly and according to the schedule provided by the gods, on the table over there."

I giggled to show the cameras I was enjoying what I was seeing. But what the hell? How did he not know he was the mastermind? Didn't he volunteer to become mastermind, like they told us?

Shuichi turned around and walked to the table, picking up a book. I couldn't read what was on it, but judging from his panicked face, it must have been something related to his identity as the Mastermind.

"N-No way... I'm really the Mastermind..."

He started trembling.

Motherkuma then told him everything about this game, from the motives, to the flashback lights, the different murder weapons and ways to kill someone around the school, Kiibo's role, his duties as the Mastermind and everything else... Shuichi was getting increasingly panicked and confused with each second passing.

Then, Motherkuma proceeded to explain how the production wanted to try out something new this year. They wanted to get genuine reactions out of the Mastermind to the executions and the characters' personalities, so they decided to keep everything about the other participants for themselves.

Then, I saw his eyebrows furrow in horror.

"I can't do this! Please choose another Mastermind, I-I-"

Tears started spilling out of his eyes as his knees gave out under him, in front of the camera. I felt my heart skip a beat from seeing him so distressed like this.

This was so disturbing. Yet again, the production lied to us.

"I just wanted to get rid of my stupid Danganronpa addiction and make friends, I wanted to become a better person, not make it worst! Please... I don't even care if you reject me from the game... just let me go back home..."

Silence filled the room, heavy and overwhelming. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Shuichi... he didn't want to be the mastermind...? Then why-

My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Well, it's too late!"

I recognized that voice.

...

It was that stranger's voice from Friday night.

"Team Danganronpa speaking here... there's no way out! You're the Mastermind and that's it!"

"B-But I simply c-can't d-do it! I-I'm not evil! I don't have bad intentions and I simply can't bring myself to be an accomplice to other people's despair!"

The man speaking let out a little giggle, which was quickly followed by a laugh, and finally, it erupted into a long deranged laughter.

I cringed. Shuichi was trembling and he looked like he was about to pass out anytime now.

"It's too late! Too late too late too late! You're going to have to act the part, just like you did in that stupid fake audition of yours! That's what you get for acting like that!"

Shuichi started crying again. It made me almost furrow my eyebrows in anger.

I understood now what was going on.

...

"I won't do it! If you keep me here as a Mastermind, I'll end the game early and make sure I die first!"

I felt my eyes widen involuntarily, before I quickly shifted my face back to a more mischievous look for the cameras. I didn't expect to hear that coming from him.

"Oh? Is that so?"

The voice snickered again.

"Look up."

The camera glitched and Shuichi disappeared. Another image replaced him. It was the image of a kitchen, from a high angle. There were two people, a woman and a man, eating at the table and chatting. One of them, the man, looked a lot like Shuichi, so I could only assume this was either his parents or close relatives.

"What... what the hell..." Shuichi stuttered.

"You see this? Now, let's make a deal."

The voice snickered again. The image flashed back to Shuichi.

"You play the role of the Mastermind, create marvellous motives and traps to get the participants to kill each other without saying a word. If you don't do that, it's simple really; your family dies. And I'm not only talking about your uncle and aunt, I'm talking about your beloved parents too."

...

Holy shit.

Shuichi... was a victim of blackmail and extortion this whole time?! I could barely keep a smile on my face to avoid the camera's suspicions. 'How did I not notice it before?? Gosh these idiots must have rubbed their idiocy on me."

Shuichi spoke out, absolutely terrified. Now that I knew everything, I felt like shit. I felt like shit for treating him the way I did and I felt like an idiot for not seeing it earlier.

This is terrible yes... but this whole situation is incredibly dangerous. If these bastards of Team Danganronpa managed to effortlessly lie to us, to me, about everything, I can't even begin to imagine what they're truly up to.

"How did you..."

"Now now, it's not the time to be asking such questions! Will you accept the deal? If not, the four hitmen situated all around your uncle and parents' houses are all ready to shoot, right under my orders!"

My blood ran cold.

"Yes... yes I will do it, but please leave my family alone... they're all I have left-" Shuichi choked out, his voice shaking and cracking. I felt the tears build up in my own eyes from seeing him like this.

"Perfect! Now, head to a random classroom and stay there until someone wakes up, alright?"

He nodded, his lips trembling as he slowly stopped sobbing.

"Oh! And don't forget our promise!"

The familiar phrase was the last thing I heard from the man, before all audio and video cut off. It snapped to another video. Shuichi was in the library with Rantaro when all of a sudden, he smashed him across the head with a shotput ball. I felt my face twitch from the brutality. I looked at Shuichi, he looked terrified and panicked, realizing what he'd done.

I couldn't take it anymore and closed the file. I took out the USB and put it in my pocket. I smiled, showing the camera I'd enjoyed it, and left the room.

I walked over the my room, my mind processing what I'd just seen.

As I flopped onto my bed, I felt my hands start shaking. Shuichi...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really suck at writing Kokichi POV I’m sorry :’> I have trouble understanding him and his emotions.


	23. A Normal Life?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fuck the summary, read the chapter.

Shuichi was all alone in this.

The whole time, he was completely alone. With no one to talk with, with no one to seek help to. He was trapped, forced into this sick role of the Mastermind against his will.

My heart ached and twisted as I remembered everything I'd said to him after the game.

I felt the tears start to sting my eyes. Guilt swarmed over my brain, filling my thoughts and emotions. I couldn't stop my lips from trembling as my face was burried in my pillow. I gulped back a sob, taking a deep breath. I had to calm down, the cameras were still here.

And I had to get started on a brand new plan.

I frowned and got up, rubbing a sleeve over my eyes to dry them. I slapped both my cheeks to motivate myself and immediately got to note down all the new information I'd gathered and plan something.

[...]

SHUICHI POV

...

Almost two weeks had passed. It was Friday today, exactly a month after the group had collectively moved into this house.

I was basically free from my sickness at this point. I'd still cough a few times a day and get headaches from time to time, but I was able to function like a normal human being.

Last week was a pain though. I'd been stuck in bed for three days in a row, unable to get out to even get water, refill the humidifier or eat something. It was terrible, my body ached non-stop and I had trouble sleeping.

Lucky for me, the second of those three days, Kirumi dared herself to open my door to see how I was doing. She had started asking about why I was refusing the dishes until she saw me in that pathetic state.

She looked... panicked.

But why...?

Just a week before that, they all looked at me like they wanted to throw me in a lake and drown me. Why was she acting so nice towards me?

At that time, I felt too miserable to even question it. I was drifting from unconscious to conscious all the time and didn't focus on anything at all. I remember her just telling me, no, begging me to eat and drink something. She then left shortly after, saying something I didn't hear, after she'd watched me weakly bite into a sandwich.

'How embarrassing...' I thought as I remembered the two following days after that. She would always come by a few times a day just to make me eat something. Kaede even came once, bearing the warmest smile I'd ever seen on her face.

She was so persistent... even after I ignored her and made her cry so many times.

... then Kokichi came as well. I remember it vaguely, since he came the night of the same day Kirumi had visited me. He brought me dinner and sat down on a chair beside my bed.

"Y'know, Saihara-chan, you're so weird."

I remember weakly lifting up my head from my sandwich to look at him. My vision was blurry and I couldn't make out his expression at all.

"You're supposed to be a detective, yet you're the mystery. You're the troublesome one. That's supposed to be my job! I'm supposed to be the hated one here!~"

I raised an eyebrow at him, my fatigue just intensifying my confusion. I heard his horse giggle.

"The roles have switched now~"

I vaguely remember making out the outline of his eyes as he said that.

His purple irises were staring directly into my own eyes, digging deep into my soul. They were filled with malice, yet overflowed with curiosity.

"Welp! Now that you're finally done, I'll be taking my leave! Plus, you smell really bad phew, I'm glad to finally be able to leave this putrid place!~"

He stood up, grabbing the half eaten sandwich plate from my hands and trotted over to the door.

I remember seeing his eyes glance at my desk, seeing my laptop and paper files sprawled on my desk, before he closed the door and left.

...

Kaito and Maki also came to visit me, the second day after Kirumi. They both stood by the doorframe as they watched Kirumi give me some food, telling me to make an effort to at least eat a little more than yesterday. I felt a little better that day and saw how worried both looked. I heard some words concerning my health and the subject of death even came up, coming from Kaito of course.

Then, the end of the week came and I started feeling extremely better, better than the previous weeks even. Kirumi still visited me, even if I wasn't in bed anymore, making sure I ate something.

A few days ago, I even started working again. After my uncle was convinced enough that I was doing better, he sent me files for weeks and weeks, telling me not to worry about coming back to the office anytime soon, as to not tire myself. He also sent me extra money, claiming this was a pay in advance for the next two weeks, as well as a little bonus to help myself out. I thanked him greatly, after all, the others were running out of money again.

Two weeks ago, I left them my credit card on the kitchen table after sneaking out when they were sleeping. My name wasn't on the card or anything, so they had no idea who this belonged to. I had written a note to go with the card, claiming this was financial support from Team Danganronpa. Half convinced but running out of money, they accepted it and began using it. Lucky for me, they were extremely careful with what they spent.

And so, here we are now.

I'm sitting at the kitchen table, listening to this boring teacher teach boring subjects. Most of the others were listening with attention, but some of them were goofing around, playing with their pencils and stuff.

As for me, I was thinking about this particularly tricky case I was currently solving. This was surely a challenge from my uncle and I couldn't wait to get to the bottom of it.

"I think that'll be it for today. Make sure to be prepared for next week's exam."

Everyone nodded and stood up, grabbing their stuff and heading directly to their rooms, chatting and complaining about various things.

I made my way to mine directly, almost running. As soon as I got there, I closed my door and got to work, immediately pulling out the file.

I worked on it all night and without realizing, I skipped dinner.

'God damn it...'

I stood up and stretched as I looked at the hour. 11 PM. 'Wow, I've really been working on this for 8 hours...?' I sighed and changed out of my clothes into something more comfortable. I then headed downstairs through the silence of the mansion, trying my best to be as quiet as possible.

I finally made it downstairs and opened the fridge. I was immediately met with a note that read: 'Leftovers for Shuichi.' I felt a rush of heat fill my stomach and a smile crept on my face. This simple act of kindness was everything and it made me so happy. I grabbed the plastic container, opened it and put it in the microwave. I set the timer for one minute, before pressing the button. The machine was making a super loud noise, I'm just hoping this won't wake anyone up.

Just before the beeping, I stopped the microwave and got out the heated bowl of soup. I grabbed myself a spoon and sat down at the table. I didn't hesitate to dig in; I didn't realize until now how hungry I was.

It barely took me five minutes before I was done. I smiled as I brought the cup to the kitchen to wash it; I'll have to thank Kirumi one way or another, for all she's done to me. I just hope that... that they won't do anything.

I found myself frowning, before shaking the thoughts away. I hadn't heard from Team Danganronpa and the man in almost two weeks and I'm positive they saw how Kirumi and the others took care of me when I was sick. They didn't even do anything... so why would they do now? Unless...

I took a deep breath and put the washed cup in its respective cupboard. I checked one last time to make sure I didn't forget anything on the table, before heading back upstairs.

I climbed the stairs, making sure not to make the wood creak. As I finally arrived upstairs, I turned left to go to my room.

That's when I felt a warm hand slap itself on my mouth, gripping my face harshly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry for being rude in the summary :’(


	24. Ambush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something weird happens.

My eyes widened and immediately, I let out a choked shout out of surprise. The hand pulled me backwards, into the closet situated right besides the staircase.

I tried to wriggle free, clawing at the hand that was holding me, but the grip was strong and the mysterious person refused to let go.

Finally, the door closed and darkness filled my vision. I tried to look back, tried to look at my assaillant, but they were holding me in such a tight grip that I couldn't even move anything.

Then, a bright light flashed in my eyes, making me squint.

And just after, I felt a cold sensation against my neck, as well as the sharpness of the object.

A knife.

"Well well well~, good evening my beloved detective!"

My blood froze.

... Kokichi? Why....

The boy let out a horse giggle. "I see you're feeling a lot better!~ Well, that's good for me, because I can use you better for myself now!"

I felt my eyes widen as the words came flowing out of Kokichi's mouth. I felt a sting in my heart. 'Use me...?'

"Listen here there! Hey~! I know you're watching me over there!"

I was confused for a second, before I noticed from the corner of my eyes a hand, Kokichi's, waving at the camera for a moment, before the returning the knife he had in that hand to my neck. I tensed as the object was pressed against my skin again.

I glanced at the camera. It made a weird buzzing sound, before it shifted slightly to face Kokichi and I completely.

"Perfect!~ Now you better listen because I'm not going to say it more than once..."

I couldn't see Kokichi's face, but I could only assume he was grinning madly. The thought made me shiver.

"It's simple really! Give me back my memories or I hurt your precious little Mastermind in the worst ways possible!~ Two clear choices, isn't that awesome?"

Kokichi laughed again, a giggle filled with malice and bad intent. Panic slowly surged through my brain, mixing with the confusion and sadness I was feeling just a few moments ago.

Why is Kokichi doing this...?

Does he really hate me that much?

...

I tried to wriggle free, but it only made his grip on my face tighten. I felt his nails dig into my skin and I couldn't help but squint from the discomfort.

That's when a small click was heard, barely audible. But I felt Kokichi shift slightly, having probably heard it too.

That's when a smoke was suddenly released into the room by the camera. I felt my eyes widen and immediately, Kokichi's grip loosened and he let me go.

He bolted towards the door and tried to turn the knob.

But it was locked. I saw his eyes widen from surprise, before immediately reaching down to his pockets and getting out what looked like a bobby pin.

As my brain was still registering what was happening, I felt myself going faint. I put a hand to my nose and mouth as my vision became blurry and I stumbled on my feet. I saw the vague outline of Kokichi still fiddling with the door.

That's when his shape flopped to the floor, going limp. I felt panic overflow my brain, before I felt my eyes being forced shut, the world going dark around me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the extremely short chapter.


	25. The Mastermind’s Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi wakes up in a dimly lit metallic room.

...what?

Where the hell...

My consciousness came back to me slowly. But with that same consciousness came back a terrible headache. That headache was concentrated on one area; the back of my head.

I blinked a few times, blinded by the light bulb seemingly dangling from the roof above me. I rolled over on my side with a grunt and tried to push myself up.

I managed to sit up, the pain at the back of my head only worsening, making me unintentionally groan from it. I lifted a hand to rub the back of my head to try and soothe it a little.

Well, at least I tried.

I felt a rush of panic overflow from my brain as I felt the harsh ropes dig into my skin. I glanced down and noticed something else. Another rope was tightly wrapped around my legs, going down to my ankles and ending with a knot. It was messily and visibly quickly done because this knot wasn’t the most secure knot I’ve seen.

The events from before flashed through my mind. Kokichi, the knife, the cameras and the... mysterious smoke. I was desperately trying to link them all together.

...it was definitely sleeping glass. It was coming from the cameras Team Danganronpa controls so this can only mean the room I’m in and the way I’m tied up is all something organized by them.

Because...

I remember Kokichi slumping to the floor as well, before me even.

Kokichi...

Another spike of anxiety flowed through my body as I quickly looked around the room. I examined every corner of it, but could only find a small bed in the corner, next to a small nightstand. The rest of the room was completely empty. There wasn’t even a window and the walls looked like they were aluminum or another type of metal.

When I didn’t notice Kokichi anywhere, I felt relief, but also panic at the same time. If this was really Team Danganronpa who tied me up, then... what did they do with Kokichi...? He was there too after all...

I tried to get the ropes loose. They weren’t tied very tightly, but they were very resistant. I was also not in tip top shape, still recovering from that nasty illness... I cursed myself for being so weak and slumped to the floor, defeated. I let out a long sigh.

I’m so tired.

I’m so tired of everything.

Why... why do I still have to put up with this...

If only I didn’t sign up for that dumb game. If only I wasn’t a stupid idiot.

A serie of self-deprecating thoughts filled my head. I couldn’t help it, I felt completely helpless and miserable. This was all too much and soon enough, it would soon push me over the edge.

As I thought about that, a metallic door flew open, making me jump and let out a surprised gasp. Footsteps echoed through the room as I dared to lift my head up. But I already knew deep down inside of me who it was, it was all too simple to guess.

He stared at me with a shit eating grin, his eyes boring into my soul.

“Hello there, my beloved Mastermind~.”

I felt a sudden wave of panic, fear and... anger flow through me. The last feeling immediately took over.

“What do you want. Why did you take me here.”

I was surprised by my own tone and voice. It came out raspy and dry, like I did not drink anything in two days.

“Oh~, feisty are we? Well, we have no time for that. You have to get ready.”

I frowned, confused. “Huh...?”

The man laughed, a giggle similar to Kokichi’s.

“Oh, for the interview of course!”

I felt my blood run cold. “I-Interview...?” He laughed again, this time dropping the giggle and erupting in a short deranged cackle. I hadn’t heard that horrifying chuckle in a while and I found myself shivering.

“Well... I got bored of the despair from your pathetic loneliness.”

I felt a wave of excitement. ‘Does this mean I’m... free?!’ I lifted my head up again to look at the man. Happy thoughts filled my head as I imagined myself talking ang laughing with my friends without a care in the world.

But of course, it was all broken down by his terrible grin.

“But of course, it’s not over yet! I will now make you feel another type of despair!”

I felt my body start to tremble helplessly. The weeks of fatigue and illness took over and tears started stinging the corners of my eyes. My hope had been completely shattered.

“You’ll act like your Mastermind persona in public! I want you to do interviews, attend fan greet and meets and sign fan’s merch. People have been requesting this and fans are becoming angry. Plus, we’re running low on money, so you’ll be helping us a lot~”

...

Nothing could describe the feeling that was currently overwhelming me.

Anger, sadness, disgust, terror and despair all mixed together. I couldn’t hold it in anymore and let out what looked like a choked laugh mixed with tears. I felt droplets run down my cheeks and settle on the floor beneath my face.

I let out another laugh. And another one.

Until I felt myself loose control over my tears and choked chuckles. It was an ugly combination really. My whole body was trembling and my vision was blurry. I slumped to the floor again, my head hitting the concrete floor harshly. I was exhausted. As my laughing fit ended, I felt completely numb.

I truly was going crazy.

“Are you finally going to break? Took you long enough.”

“What?”

I snapped my head to look at him, almost a little too abruptly. He stepped back slightly. His face shifted from his usual evil grin to a surprised face, before quickly reverting back to that grin. This would have probably gone unnoticed by anyone who wasn’t paying attention, but I definitely noticed it.

“It would make it so much easier for me if you would just obey my orders like a dog! It would save me a lot of time and effort!”

Something snapped in my brain at that moment.

“So... you want me to be your toy, huh?”

I used the bitchy, evil tone I used back in the game.

This seemed to please the man.

“Exactly! You understand everything my beloved Mastermind!”

...

I smirked to myself inside my head. A newfound motivation lit up in my brain, fuelled by the realization.

Maybe I had a chance to escape his paws now.

If I follow his plan, act the way he wants and respect him, I’ll eventually gain his trust... right?

And then... I can escape... right?

It was a twisted plan, really. And it was terrifying, I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to do that. But it was the only thing I could possibly come up with.

And so, I took one deep breath, before faking my best grin at the man.

“Well... I have nothing else to lose so why not?”

The man’s eyes widened and he grinned even harder. “Oh! Oh my!~ The drug worked even better than I intended! How wonderful!~”

‘Drug...?!’ I mentally frowned at the thought. ‘What did he inject me with...’

He approached me and started untying the knots behind my back, rambling about fans, money, fame and merch.

When I was finally free, I rubbed my wrists, who were showing slight marks of the ropes digging into them.

But I didn’t manage to sooth them for long before my arm was grabbed and pulled along harshly.

“Come on now my little Mastermind! Let’s get this show on the road!”

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapters will go pretty fast because the story will mostly revolve after the aftermath of the game so be aware of that. Thank you and enjoy the rest! :)


End file.
